Said Arikat, an adjunct professor at the American University, has told Al Jazeera that Hamas faces a difficult decision on how to respond to Netanyahu’s latest move to delay the release of Palestinian detainees.

“On the one hand, they want to see caravans enter and homes erected for people who are just living there in the open and harsh elements,” Arikat said.

“They want to see aid trucks” and “they want to see the guarantors and mediators basically stick to their part of the bargain”, he said.

But he added that “we see Netanyahu as cynical as he’s always been, willing to basically flaunt international law obligations”.

“So they are faced with a dilemma. If they say, we’re backing off the terms of the deal that we have negotiated thus far, then they bring the possibility of resuming the war and the fighting,” Arikat told Al Jazeera.