Hostage deal talks between Israel and Hamas are at an impasse because the new US proposal submitted last week goes too far to accommodate Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demands, The Times of Israel reported Wednesday.

The report cited two Arab officials from a mediating country and one other official involved in the talks. One Arab official said that the talks are at such an impasse that they don’t see a point in convening another high-level meeting of negotiators in Cairo this week unless the US actually puts pressure on Netanyahu to back down on his demands.

The demands the US proposal looks to accommodate are Netanyahu’s insistence on Israel’s continued control of the Netzarim Corridor, a strip of land that separates northern Gaza from the rest of the Strip, and the Gaza-Egypt border, known as the Philadelphi Corridor. According to Hamas, the proposal also doesn’t include a permanent ceasefire or full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Poster Comment:

Israel is denying refugees they created water, food and medicine. UN wants to administer a million polio shots. Israel said No.