Israel seeks changes to Gaza truce plan, complicating talks, sources told Reuters

Israel says that displaced Palestinians should be screened as they return to the north of Gaza when the ceasefire begins, complicating a final ceasefire deal, according to a western official, a Palestinian and two Egyptian sources, Reuters has reported.

This reportedly breaches an agreement to allow civilians who fled south to freely return home, the four sources told Reuters.

Hamas rejected the new Israeli demand, according to the Palestinian and Egyptian sources.

Israeli negotiators "want a vetting mechanism for civilian populations returning to the north of Gaza, where they fear these populations could support" Hamas fighters who remain entrenched there, said the western official.

Israel furthermore demands to retain control of Gaza's border with Egypt, which Cairo dismissed as outside a framework for a final deal accepted by Hamas.