The delay imposes further strain on the precarious truce, which is at a particularly vulnerable moment, between first and second phases. The first phase is due to end next Saturday, but negotiations on the second phase have yet to begin.

While a majority of Israelis want the release of the remaining hostages to be the government’s priority, there is resistance from the right wing of Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, which wants the war to resume with the aim of obliterating Hamas.