The Palestinian militant group said the ongoing ceasefire talks have several sticking points, including the flow of aid, withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and "genuine guarantees' for a permanent ceasefire".
An Israeli official said an outstanding issue in the negotiations was Israel's desire to keep forces in the territory during a 60-day truce, including in the east-west axis that Israel calls the Morag corridor.
An official spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk with the media about the negotiations.
Keeping a foothold in the Morag corridor is a key element in Israel's plan to drive hundreds of thousands of Palestinians south toward a narrow swath of land along the border with Egypt, into what it has termed a "humanitarian city".
Hamas, which still holds dozens of hostages and refuses calls by Israel to surrender, wants Israel to withdraw all of its troops as part of any permanent truce.
It is adamantly opposed to any lasting Israeli presence inside the Gaza Strip.
As part of the proposed truce, Israel and Hamas would hold fire for 60 days during which time some hostages would be freed and more aid would enter the Gaza Strip.
Previous demands by Israel to maintain troops in a separate corridor stalled progress on a ceasefire deal for months.
The office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declined to comment on how the Morag corridor was playing into ceasefire talks.
Netanyahu was in Washington DC this week to discuss the ceasefire and other matters with US President Donald Trump, who has pushed both sides to bring an end to the war in the Gaza Strip.
Israel's desire to keep troops in the enclave was among the ceasefire sticking points discussed on Tuesday by senior officials from the US, Israel and Qatar, according to a White House official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
"We want to have peace. We want to get the hostages back. And I think we're close to doing it," Trump said on Wednesday in response to a question about the officials' meeting.
During their 21-month campaign in the Gaza Strip, Israeli forces have seized wide swaths of land, including three east-west corridors that have carved up the Palestinian enclave.
In April, Israel seized the Morag corridor - named after a Jewish settlement that existed in the strip before Israel withdrew from the territory in 2005.
The corridor, located between the Gaza Strip's southernmost city of Rafah and its second-largest city Khan Younis, stretches about 12km from Israel to the Mediterranean coast and is about 1km wide.
At the time, Netanyahu said it was part of a strategy of "increasing the pressure step by step" on Hamas.
Netanyahu called Morag a "second Philadelphi," referring to another corridor that runs along the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt.
Israel has repeatedly insisted it must maintain control of Philadelphi to prevent cross-border arms smuggling.
Egypt denies arms are moved through its territory.
Since the collapse of the last ceasefire in March, Israel has also reasserted control of the Netzarim corridor, which cuts off the enclave's northern third from the rest of the territory and which it used to prevent Palestinians from returning to the north of the Gaza Strip before the last truce.
It was not immediately clear how Israeli troops in the Netzarim and Philadelphi corridors factor into the ceasefire negotiations.
The foothold in Morag has effectively cut the Rafah area off from the rest of the enclave.
Rafah, once a city of tens of thousands of people, is currently all but flattened and emptied of its population following Israeli evacuation orders.
With those conditions in place, Israel says it seeks to turn the Rafah area into a "sterile zone" free of Hamas militants where it wants to move hundreds of thousands of Palestinians into a "humanitarian city".
with AP
