Israel said to be seeking changes to Gaza truce plan

It wants to screen civilians going back to north a demand that Hamas has rejected

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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 and a Palestinian and two Egyptian sources.

Israel says 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.

Another sticking point, the Egyptian sources said, was 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 foes.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, the White House and Egypt’s Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment on Israel’s demands.

“Netanyahu is still stalling. There is no change in his stance so far,” said Hamas senior official Sami Abu Zuhri, who did not comment directly on Israel’s demands.