Netanyahu delays ceasefire vote, claiming Hamas created a 'last minute crisis'

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said a cabinet meeting that was scheduled to vote Thursday on the peace deal between Israel and Hamas has been delayed, in a blow to hopes that a ceasefire after 15 months of fighting would take effect Sunday.

Netanyahu said that the meeting will only happen once Hamas pulls back on demands for what he called "last minute concession," adding in a statement that "Hamas reneges on parts of the agreement reached with the mediators."

He said that until the mediators notify Israel that "all elements of the agreement" have been accepted, the cabinet meeting would not proceed. He did not specify what elements of the deal Hamas had reneged on.

But in an interview with Al-Arabi TV, a senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, said there was no basis to claims by Netanyahu that Hamas was retracting parts of the ceasefire agreement.