Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu changed the terms of a U.S.-backed truce deal that was mostly in place by later adding a "clarifications'' document, an Israeli news outlet reported Tuesday.
Ynet said the talks were dramatically altered when Netanyahu presented on July 27 the document with new conditions that included a military presence at the Philadelphi corridor in southern Gaza instead of the original phased withdrawal of Israeli troops from the whole enclave.
Among the other modifications to a May 27 proposal from Israel − which Hamas surprisingly accepted for the most part − were a checkpoint requirement for unarmed residents returning home to northern Gaza, a specific list of names of hostages to be freed instead of general parameters for who was eligible, and a stipulation that Palestinian prisoners would be released abroad, not in Gaza.
U.S. and Israeli officials acknowledged that the killing of six hostages in Gaza over the weekend...
