TEL AVIV, August 3. /TASS/. The radical movement Hamas should be blamed that the Cairo talks on a Gaza deal are not making progress, as Israel has not put forward any new demands, Dmitry Gendelman, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, told TASS.

"No new demands were put forward by Israel at the talks [in Cairo]. The lack of progress is solely because of Hamas," he said.

Earlier on Saturday, Gendelman told TASS that the Israeli delegation, led by Mossad Director David Barnea and Israeli Security Agency (ISA) Director Ronen Bar, had come back from Cairo where they had held talks with mediators on the Gaza hostage release.

After the delegation came home, Netanyahu’s office issued a statement saying that Hamas was trying to add dozens of amendments to the May draft deal on Gaza, which "de facto nullify the plan."

"Hamas continues to demand an end to the war [in the enclave] after releasing few hostages, seize the chance to flood the Gaza Strip with weapons, regain control over it and again commit the massacre of October 7, [2023]," the statement said.

The prime minister’s office said that he "has not added anything to the plan" of the deal and "continues to adhere to the basic conditions for Israel’s security under the plan," as they envision "releasing as many alive hostages as possible during the first phase," "keeping control over the Philadelphi Corridor" on the enclave’s border with Egypt, and "preventing the return of terrorists to the northern Gaza Strip."

"Those who suggest giving in to Hamas’ demands in order to get applause in the studios are reducing the chances of the hostages’ release," the office said.

Netanyahu’s office recommended ignoring numerous leaks about the talks.

"Leaks and false statements by anonymous individuals in the media create false perception of what is going on," the statement said.

Interest in talks

In late July, Dmitry Gendelman, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, told TASS that Israel was eager to go back to the negotiating table to try to secure the return of all the Gaza hostages. On July 28, CIA Director William Burns met with representatives of Israel, Egypt and Qatar in Rome in an attempt to clinch a deal on a ceasefire and release of hostages in Gaza. On the same day, Barnea returned from Rome to Israel. The prime minister’s office said that the talks would be continued in the coming days.

On May 31, US President Joe Biden announced his three-phase Israel-Palestine ceasefire plan, with each phase lasting six weeks. The plan envisages a complete ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian inmates from Israeli prisons.

Hamas’ attack, hostage taking

Tensions flared up in the Middle East after Hamas militants attacked Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 residents of border settlements and taking 250 hostages. In response, Israel launched a military operation in Gaza to eradicate Hamas’ military and political structure and to release all the hostages.

In late November 2023, a temporary one-week humanitarian truce was brokered by Egypt and Qatar. According to Israel, 110 hostages were released then. On December 1, the ceasefire was broken by radicals and combat operations resumed and are still going on. According to Israel’s latest reports, 115 people are still being held hostage in Gaza.