Hamas official Osama Badran said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s demand to keep Israeli troops at the Philadelphi Corridor – a strip of land along Gaza’s border with Egypt – shows he is unwilling to reach a final ceasefire deal.

Speaking to AFP news agency, Badran reiterated that Hamas would accept “nothing less than the withdrawal of occupation forces, Philadelphi included”.

This is in line with the original US- and UN-backed ceasefire plan presented by US President Joe Biden back in May, he said.

Currently, Israeli negotiators are in Cairo with mediators trying to hammer out the details of a deal, which the US and Israel said they have agreed to a “bridging proposal” for.

However, Hamas has not accepted the “bridging proposal”, which it says violates earlier agreed-upon terms, and is not taking part in this round of talks.