Leaks over the weekend by two members of Israel’s negotiating team unveiled Netanyahu’s indifference to the fate of the remaining captives and has been unwilling to present new ideas.

Hamas has maintained its demand for a complete ceasefire in Gaza and the withdrawal of Israeli forces in its response on Saturday to an Israeli proposal submitted last week through mediators Qatar and Egypt.

“We […] reaffirm our adherence to our demands and the national demands of our people; with a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of the occupation army from the entire Gaza Strip, the return of the displaced to their areas and places of residence, intensification of the entry of relief and aid, and the start of reconstruction,” Hamas said in a statement shared on its Telegram channel.

Other demands included the increased entry of aid into Gaza and the beginning of the reconstruction process.

The group’s latest remarks echo its previous proposal from March 14, which it submitted following talks in Cairo.

The latest Israeli proposal did not stipulate the unconditional return of displaced Palestinians and did not guarantee the withdrawal of Israeli troops.

Israel has also insisted on releasing only 100 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences of its choice without granting Hamas the ability to provide its own list.

On the other hand, Hamas demanded the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners of its choice, 50 for each Israeli captive.

In its latest statement, Hamas stressed that it was “ready to agree to a serious deal” that would lead to the exchange of Israeli captives and Palestinian prisoners.

Sources told Al Jazeera on Saturday that Hamas had believed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was “deliberately” stalling the talks while playing “a media game” to deceive the captives’ families and the Israeli public.

Netanyahu has been insisting on continuing the war on Gaza in an attempt to eliminate Hamas and return some 133 Israeli captives. The Israeli army believes at least 34 of the remaining captives are dead.

Notably, the captives were either killed by Israel’s non-stop attacks on Gaza or through famine as Israel has prevented the entry of basic resources into the area, such as water, food and medicine.

Leaks over the weekend by two members of Israel’s negotiating team revealed Netanyahu’s indifference to the fate of the remaining captives and his unwillingness to present new ideas.

“There is a massive gap between the narratives they are trying to create in the public eye and the actions in reality,” one of the sources told Israeli media on Friday.

“Since December, definitely since January, it has become clear to everyone that we are not negotiating,” he said.

The source said that there would have been higher chances to reach a deal without Netanyahu’s involvement, noting they could have secured a deal two months ago.

“It happens again and again, we get a mandate during the day, and then the prime minister makes phone calls at night. He says, ‘Don’t say this, don’t approve that.’ This is how he gets around the heads of the negotiation team as well as the war cabinet,” another anonymous source added.

The talks have stalled since the expiration of a truce last year that lasted between November 24 and December 1. Mediated by Qatar and Egypt, the truce led to the release of at least 110 captives from Hamas in Gaza.

Since then, Israel committed major escalatory moves, including the assassination of senior Hamas leader Saleh Al-Arouri in Beirut on January 2 – the first such attack on the Lebanese capital since the war. 

Israel also carried out a brutal two-week raid at the Al-Shifa Medical Complex last month, killing hundreds of civilians while burning down the building. The hospital once stood as the largest medical facility in Gaza and one of the most important hospitals in the entirety of Palestine.

Then on April 1, Israel attacked the annex of Iran’s consulate in Damascus, which was met with a retaliatory attack on the occupying entity by the Islamic Republic on Saturday.

Meanwhile, last week, Israel killed three sons and grandchildren of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza.

Israel killed Haniyeh’s three sons — Hazem, Amir and Mohammed — while they were visiting relatives for Eid at Gaza’s Shati refugee camp. 

Haniyeh, who is based in Qatar, said Israel has killed around 60 of his family members.

While the attack took place at a critical time amid ongoing ceasefire talks in Cairo, Haniyeh stressed that Hamas will not withdraw its demands for a comprehensive ceasefire and the unconditional return of displaced Palestinians. 

“If they think that targeting my children at the peak of these talks before the movement’s [Hamas’s] response is submitted will cause Hamas to change its positions, they are delusional,” Haniyeh told Al Jazeera on April 10.

“The blood of my children is not more valuable than the blood of the children of the Palestinian people[…]All the martyrs of Palestine are my children,” he added.

Haniyeh’s sons and grandchildren are among the 33,729 Palestinians killed by Israeli occupation forces since the beginning of the war in Gaza. Israel persisted in its war and continued to expand its ground invasion in different parts of the Strip.

Last week, Israel launched deadly attacks on the Nusseirat camp, where it targeted a group of journalists on Friday. Sami Shehadeh, a journalist with Turkiye’s TRT had his foot amputated as a result of the attack.

Also last week, Netanyahu said Israel decided on a date for the Rafah invasion, a move that has been an area of concern for the international community.

Speaking at a joint press conference with Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on April 3, Qatar’s prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani stressed that the move would only lead to another genocide.

“We don’t see any country but Israel supporting an attack on Rafah. You cannot corner the people, around 50 percent of the population in Gaza, almost 10 percent of the Strip, and attack them,” Sheikh Mohammed, who is also Qatar’s foreign minister, said.

“It won’t happen without committing a major genocide besides the genocide being committed in Gaza,” he added.