No Israel vote on deal 'until Hamas agrees to all terms'

Delay prompts fears last-minute disputes or hardliners could scupper ceasefire on Sunday

- Bethan McKernan Jerusalem Andrew Roth

Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel's cabinet will not meet to vote on the ceasefire deal intended to pause the war in Gaza until "Hamas accepts all elements of the agreement", in a move that threatens to derail months of work to end the 15-month conflict.

The unexpected delay sparked fears that last-minute disagreements between Israel and Hamas or hardline opposition could still scuttle the deal, although senior US officials insisted that the hard-won ceasefire would go into effect on Sunday as planned.

Speaking at a briefing yesterday, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said he was "very confident" that the ceasefire would go forward and that he "fully expects that implementation will begin, as we said, on Sunday".

The announcement from the Israeli prime minister's office yesterday came before a scheduled security cabinet and wider government meeting in which ministers were expected to ratify the deal reached in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Wednesday night. A vote is now expected this morning, Israeli media reported.

Netanyahu's office said: "Hamas has reneged on parts of the agreement reached with the mediators and Israel in an effort to extort last-minute concessions," and the situation had created a "last-minute crisis".

A senior Hamas official, Izzat el-Reshiq, said via the group's Telegram channel a few minutes after the Israeli announcement that Hamas was committed to the ceasefire agreement. Israeli media reported last night that the disagreement had been resolved, citing anonymous government sources.

Without specifying the dispute, Blinken confirmed there had been a "loose end" in the complex negotiations, which have included Israel and Hamas, as well as mediators from the US, Qatar and Egypt. "We're tying up that loose end as we speak," he said, adding that he had been on the phone all morning and held direct discussions with the senior US envoy Brett McGurk and the Qatari government.