A senior Hamas official said Monday that the United States must pressure Israel into a deal to achieve a ceasefire in the war in Gaza.
"It is now in the hands of the Americans, if they are serious about achieving a cease-fire before Ramadan, to exercise enough pressure on the Israelis," NBC News quoted senior Hamas official Bassem Naim as saying. Mediators had hoped the two sides would reach a 40-day ceasefire by Ramadan, which begins on Sunday.
Naim also told Reuters that Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu "doesn't want to reach an agreement and the ball now is in the Americans' court."
Reuters also quoted an unnamed Hamas official who said the terror group's delegation would remain in Cairo, where negotiations are taking place for another day in hopes of reaching a deal.
An unnamed Israeli official told Reuters that "Israel is making every effort to reach an agreement" and "awaiting a response from Hamas."
The outlet has also reported that Israel was staying away from the talks in the Egyptian capital because Hamas would not give it a list of all hostages who are alive, a task Naim said the group could not do without a cessation of hostilities because the hostages are scattered throughout the Gaza Strip. Additionally, the United States has said that there is an Israeli-approved framework ready for Hamas to accept, but the group disputes that and says America is deflecting blame from Israel.
President Joe Biden last week said he had hoped for a truce by the beginning of this week, but multiple parties in the talks cast doubt on his optimism soon after the comments. He later walked back that prediction after Israeli troops fired on a crowd of Palestinians during a delivery of aid. Israel said the people were looting a truck delivering the supplies. It is unclear how many died by shooting versus trampling in the panic.