Mediators announced a six-week ceasefire on Wednesday, which was scheduled to take effect on Sunday. However, the Israeli Cabinet still needs to approve the deal, and Netanyahu’s office announced on Thursday that the vote was delayed due to a “last-minute crisis.”

“Hamas is reneging on the understandings and creating a last-minute crisis that is preventing an agreement,” a statement from the prime minister’s office read. “The Israeli Cabinet will not convene until the mediators notify Israel that Hamas has accepted all elements of the agreement.”

Another statement elaborated that the problem was “a last-minute attempt by Hamas to withdraw from a clause in the agreement that grants Israel veto power over the release of mass murderers who are symbols of terrorism.” It said Hamas was “demanding to dictate the identity of these murderers.”

Israeli media speculated that the true reason for the delay was to appease the right-wing members of Netanyahu’s government, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who have threatened to resign if the deal is approved. Their resignations would precipitate a collapse of the Israeli government. Both want Israel to continue the war until Hamas is neutralized.

Izzat al Rishq, a senior Hamas official, said the group “is committed to the ceasefire agreement, which was announced by the mediators.”

In an appearance on Fox and Friends, President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming national security adviser, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL), downplayed the delay, expressing optimism that the deal would go through.

“One of the final pieces in the arrangement, Prime Minister Netanyahu and his key team basically have to run this through their government and get the votes for this deal,” Waltz said. “There is some last-minute maneuvering. There’s some last-minute shifting.”

“We’re still optimistic. Everybody wants this deal to happen,” he added.

The ceasefire deal will pause fighting for six weeks and open negotiations to end the war altogether. Over those six weeks, 33 hostages will be exchanged for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Displaced Palestinians will be able to return to what’s left of their homes, and humanitarian aid will flow freely.

Israel estimated that 30 of nearly 100 remaining hostages are dead, but U.S. and Israeli officials privately believe the true number to be much higher, the Wall Street Journal reported. Of the 33 hostages set to be released, some are expected to be dead.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another militant group, also approved of the deal.

Casualty estimates in the conflict are controversial, but the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry said 46,000 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7, 2023, with no distinction between civilians and fighters. More than 1,200 Israelis were killed in Hamas’s initial cross-border raid, with another 250 taken hostage. Hundreds of Israel Defense Forces soldiers have been killed.