Israel Seeks Changes in Gaza Truce Plan Amid Hostage Release Discussions

Israel is proposing changes to the Gaza truce plan, complicating a deal to end nine months of conflict. Key points of contention include screening displaced Palestinians returning to Gaza's north and control of the Egypt-Gaza border. The U.S., Qatar, and Egypt are mediating the indirect talks between Israel and Hamas.

Israel is seeking changes to a plan for a Gaza truce and the release of hostages by Hamas, complicating a final deal to halt nine months of combat that have devastated the enclave, according to a Western official, a Palestinian and two Egyptian sources. Israel says that displaced Palestinians should be screened as they return to the enclave's north when the ceasefire begins, retreating from an agreement to allow civilians who fled south to freely return home, the four sources told Reuters.

Israeli negotiators "want a vetting mechanism for civilian populations returning to the north of Gaza, where they fear these populations could support" Hamas fighters who remain entrenched there, said the Western official. The Palestinian militant group rejected the new Israeli demand, according to the Palestinian and Egyptian sources, however a senior Israeli official said Hamas had not yet seen the latest proposals, which were expected to go out "in the coming hours".

"The messages from Hamas are bizarre because we haven't sent it yet, nobody has read it yet. Even the negotiators haven't got it yet. They will read it before transferring it to Hamas for their reaction," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. Egyptian sources said there was another sticking point over Israel's demand to retain control of Gaza's border with Egypt, which Cairo dismissed as outside a framework for a final deal accepted by the two sides.

(With inputs from agencies.)