Israel-Hamas Ceasefire Negotiations on the Brink of Collapse: Reports

High-stakes talks being held in Egypt by multiple international delegations in the hopes of brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas seemingly hit a snag on the second day, with Benjamin Netanyahu reportedly ordering his negotiators to refrain from taking part.

The Israeli prime minister’s heel-turn, reported on Wednesday by Israeli media outlets, comes after he denounced Hamas’ “delusional demands.” His office did not directly confirm or deny the reports when asked by The New York Times, instead issuing a statement noting that only a “change in Hamas’ position will allow the negotiations to advance.”

The reports that Netanyahu told his team not to return to Cairo infuriated some families of the Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza. “This is a scandalous decision that amounts to a death sentence and deliberate sacrifice of the 134 hostages languishing in Hamas’ tunnels,” Liat Bell Sommer, a spokesperson for the Hostage and Missing Persons Families Forum, told The Washington Post.

Read more at The Daily Beast.