The Wall Street Journal reported Friday that American hopes for a cease-fire agreement in Gaza that could help calm tensions in a region on the brink of a wider war are facing a major hurdle: “Everyone seems to agree that it is time to stop the fighting,” except for the two people who will have to sign the agreement.

According to the newspaper, negotiators and officials in their camps say that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar resisted the agreement for several months, even as pressure mounted to reach an agreement.

The newspaper notes that the number of Palestinian dead in the Gaza Strip exceeded 40,000 people on Thursday, according to Palestinian health officials, while “the Israeli security establishment says it has destroyed Hamas and that the time is right to conclude a deal to return more than 100 hostages still being held in the Strip, saying that those still alive may not be able to survive much longer.”

Meanwhile, the Biden administration hopes the deal will give Iran and allied militias such as Hezbollah a reason to back off their threat to retaliate against Israel for the killing of two Israelis in Beirut and Tehran.

Yet the mood among negotiators is worse than ever, with Israel’s own security establishment openly skeptical of Netanyahu’s willingness to make a deal. Hamas, under the newly appointed Sinwar, is refusing to participate in the talks. “It’s getting harder,” President Biden, who has been consistently upbeat, said Tuesday when asked about the prospects for a deal.

The newspaper quotes Michael Milstein, the former head of Palestinian affairs in Israeli military intelligence, as saying about Netanyahu and Sinwar: “I don’t think you can bridge the very deep gap between these two men. Unfortunately, they are the number one decision makers on both sides.”

The hardline stance may be an attempt by Netanyahu and Sinwar to distort the terms of the deal in their favor as it approaches. But as weeks pass without progress, the standoff is frustrating not only the civilians affected in Gaza and the families of the Israeli hostages held there, but also the Egyptian and Qatari interlocutors trying to persuade the warring sides to reach an agreement, the newspaper claims. “Tensions have escalated to the point that Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel lost his temper when the Israeli negotiating team presented Netanyahu with new demands to secure strategic passages in Gaza,” the newspaper says. An angry Kamel told his team that Netanyahu was wasting his time, according to people familiar with the matter.

From this point on, the parties started again.

Netanyahu said he was working to achieve Israel's war goals of defeating Hamas and returning the hostages. Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri rejected allegations that the movement had resisted reaching an agreement, saying it was committed to the negotiating track but rejected Israel's new conditions.

An Israeli delegation including intelligence chief David Barnea and homeland security chief Ronen Bar met Thursday in the Qatari capital of Doha with CIA Director William Burns, White House Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani as part of a two-day U.S.-led summit to try to bridge gaps toward a deal. Hamas officials did not attend but are expected to be updated on their progress in real time by mediators, according to Egyptian officials.

Sticking points remain for a deal that would see a ceasefire and a swap of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel for the release of hostages held by Hamas. These include whether any cessation of hostilities would be temporary or permanent, how to secure the border between Gaza and Egypt, Israel’s ability to screen Palestinians returning to northern Gaza and which Palestinian prisoners would be approved for release.

In a sign that major differences remain, a senior Egyptian official said late Thursday local time that negotiations in Doha would continue "amid attempts to bring viewpoints closer together."

"The Egyptian security delegation is making intensive efforts to reach an agreement between the two parties," the official said, adding, "The gaps between the two parties are still wide."

For months, Netanyahu has faced accusations from mediators and his own negotiators that he has thwarted efforts to reach a deal by making new demands, leaking details to the media and limiting his team’s room to negotiate. Members of his team have even considered resigning, according to Arab mediators and a former negotiator.

"Our feeling all along was that he was against us," said a former negotiator, referring to Netanyahu. "I'm very sure the chances of reaching an agreement would be much higher if he wasn't there."

Netanyahu has previously denied accusations of obstructing the talks.

An Israeli official said Wednesday, ahead of the summit, that Netanyahu had insisted that Israeli forces should remain in the Philadelphi Corridor, the 9-mile-long border area.

In a message conveyed to Arab mediators late Monday, Sinwar said that if Israel is serious about negotiations and wants Hamas to participate, it must first halt its military operations in Gaza, the mediators said, something Israel is unlikely to agree to. Sinwar believes the latest round of talks is a bluff, giving Israel extra time to wage its military campaign, according to the Arab mediators.

Netanyahu has set a goal of what he calls total victory over Hamas, and he has continued to hold to that goal even as military officials have publicly said it is not realistic and that a deal to return the hostages is more urgent.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galant responded to Netanyahu’s idea of a “complete victory,” a concept that many security analysts have questioned, during a committee hearing in the Israeli parliament on Monday. Netanyahu’s office responded by saying that “complete victory” is the clear directive of the prime minister and the government and “binding on everyone — including Galant.”

Netanyahu’s government relies on far-right ministers who have prioritized defeating Hamas over releasing the hostages. Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have indicated they will leave Netanyahu’s coalition if the prime minister agrees to a ceasefire on terms they oppose. Sinwar, who is believed to be hiding in underground Gaza tunnels, has also posed a major challenge to the talks. Egyptian officials have said in recent months that Sinwar believes Hamas currently has the upper hand in the negotiations, citing internal political divisions within Israel and U.S. pressure on Israel to do more to ease the suffering in Gaza. Divisions have also emerged within Hamas, with Sinwar often representing a more hardline approach. In May, the group’s political wing abroad showed flexibility in negotiations over a ceasefire and hostage release, according to Arab mediators. But Sinwar, whose approval is required for any deal, has remained more defiant and more reluctant to end the war so far, according to the mediators.

The Wall Street Journal reported, based on dozens of messages the Hamas leader sent during the negotiations, that Sinwar believes the killing of Palestinian civilians works to his advantage by drawing international condemnation of Israel. Sinwar has repeatedly stopped communicating with mediators and the Hamas leadership for days at a time throughout the war, a move that is likely to slow and complicate the negotiations he is now officially leading. In March, Sinwar cut off contact with the Hamas leadership out of mistrust and a belief that there was a spy in their ranks, according to Arab mediators, following the killing of Marwan Issa, the deputy commander of Hamas’s military wing.

Meanwhile, the hostages’ families feel helpless. “These are the worst days of my life,” said Jonathan Dekel Chen, the father of American-Israeli citizen Sagi Dekel Chen, 36, who was kidnapped by gunmen from a kibbutz in southern Israel on October 7. His son was last seen wounded but alive in a tunnel under Gaza by hostages released in a November ceasefire deal.