JERUSALEM: Israel and Hamas are set for more indirect talks Sunday on the Gaza ceasefire, but deep divisions persist between the two warring sides on the terms of the fragile truce.
Mediated by Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, the initial phase of the ceasefire took effect on January 19, largely halting 15 months of deadly fighting in Gaza triggered by Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
That phase ended in early March, and though both sides have since refrained from all-out war, they have been unable to agree on the next stage of the ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.
Late on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu instructed Israeli negotiators to continue the talks, his office said.
But he directed the team to base its negotiations on a proposal by US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff that calls for the “immediate release of 11 living hostages and half of the deceased hostages”.
Hamas had said it was ready to release a living Israeli-US hostage, Edan Alexander, along with the bodies of four other Israeli-Americans in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
A Hamas delegation, which left Cairo for Doha where the movement is based, said the proposal to hand over the five had also been put forward by the United States.
But the United States, the key military ally of Israel, has since criticised Hamas’ insistence on that proposal.
“The delegation held fruitful discussions with our Egyptian brothers, focusing on ways to advance the implementation of the ceasefire agreement in light of Hamas’s acceptance of the updated American proposal” reportedly put forward by US hostage envoy Adam Boehler, a Hamas official said, referring to the five.
“The delegation asked mediators and guarantors, the United States, to compel the occupation (Israel) to implement the humanitarian protocol, immediately allow humanitarian aid into Gaza Strip, and begin the second phase of negotiations,“ the official said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak publicly on the Gaza truce.
Deadlock
During the first phase of the truce agreement, Hamas released 33 hostages, including eight deceased, while Israel freed around 1,800 Palestinian detainees.
Since then, Hamas has consistently demanded that negotiations for the second phase, which include a permanent end to the war, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the reopening of border crossings for aid, and the release of remaining hostages.
Israel, however, seeks to extend the first phase until mid-April and insists that any transition to the second phase must include “the total demilitarisation” of Gaza and the removal of Hamas, which has controlled the territory since 2007.
The ceasefire negotiations are now at an impasse, with both sides holding firm in their positions and accusing each other of obstructing progress.
“It’s so hard for me to think about what they’re (hostages) going through right now because I know that feeling,“ freed Israeli captive Omer Shem Tov said in a newly released video.
“It’s a terrible feeling and it has to stop as soon as possible.”
Gaza resident Mohammad Hallas, 41, said Hamas had no choice but to agree to release the hostages.
“The fastest way for Hamas to reach a solution is to free the prisoners,“ Hallas, from Gaza City, told AFP.
“The situation in Gaza is catastrophic and worsens every day. Everything is in Israel’s hands, and Hamas only has the prisoners as a bargaining chip.”
The October 7 attack resulted in 1,218 deaths on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures, which includes hostages who were killed or died in captivity.
In response, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas and launched a large-scale offensive in Gaza, which has killed at least 48,572 people, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry, which the United Nations considers reliable.
Despite the fragile truce still holding, Israel continues to conduct near-daily air strikes in Gaza.
On Saturday, strikes in north Gaza’s city of Beit Lahia killed nine people, including four Palestinian journalists, said the territory’s civil defence agency, marking the deadliest attack on a single site since January 19.
Hamas condemned the attack as “a horrible massacre” and “a blatant violation of the ceasefire”.
The Israeli military said it hit “a terrorist cell” in Beit Lahia, adding the militants were operating a drone intended to carry out “terrorist attacks” against its troops in Gaza.
It said in a statement that the drone was being used regularly by Islamic Jihad militants, who have been fighting alongside Hamas against Israeli forces in Gaza.
