DOHA, Qatar (AP) — International mediators held a new round of talks on Thursday aimed at the war between Israel and Hamas and to achieve the release of numerous hostages. A possible agreement is seen as the best hope of averting an even larger regional conflict.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt met with an Israeli delegation in Qatar as the Palestinian death toll from the more than ten-month-long war increased over 40,000said health authorities in Gaza. Hamas, which did not participate directly in Thursday’s talks, accuses Israel of adding new demands to an earlier proposal that was supported by the United States and the rest of the world and to which Hamas had agreed in principle.
White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby called the talks an important step and said they were expected to continue through Friday. He said much work remained given the complexity of the agreement and negotiators were focused on its implementation.
A ceasefire in Gaza would likely calm tensions throughout the region. Diplomats hope it would encourage Iran and Lebanon’s Hezbollah to retaliate for the Killing of a high-ranking Hezbollah commander in an Israeli air strike in Beirut and by The top political leader of Hamas in an explosion in Tehran.
Kirby said Iran has made preparations and could attack soon and without warning. His rhetoric should be taken seriously.
The mediators spent months negotiating a solution a three-phase plan In exchange for a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and the release of Palestinians held captive by Israel, Hamas will release numerous hostages captured in the October 7 attack that sparked the war.
A U.S. official briefed on Thursday’s talks in Doha called the discussion “constructive.” The official, who was not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity, said mediators would continue their talks on Friday.
Both sides have agreed to the plan in principle. President Joe Biden announced on May 31But Hamas has proposed changes and Israel has suggested clarifications, leading each side to accuse the other of making new demands it cannot accept.
Months of talks have not yet closed the gaps
AP correspondent Karen Chammas reports on the latest ceasefire talks in the Gaza Strip.
Hamas has rejected recent Israeli demands, including a permanent military presence along the border with Egypt and a line through Gaza where Hamas would search for Palestinians returning to their homes to track down militants. Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan told Associated Press The group is only interested in discussing the implementation of Biden’s proposal, not in further negotiations on its content.
A Palestinian official closely following the negotiations said Hamas would not attend Thursday’s talks, but its Qatar-based senior officials were ready to discuss any proposals put forward by the mediators, as they had done in previous rounds.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denies that Israel has made new demands, but has repeatedly questioned the duration of the ceasefire and said Israel remains committed to a “total victory” against Hamas and the release of all hostages.
The most persistent dispute revolved around the transition from the first phase of the ceasefire – in which women, children and other defenseless hostages are released – to the second phase, in which captured Israeli soldiers are released and a permanent ceasefire comes into force.
Hamas fears Israel will resume the war after the first group of hostages is released. Israel fears Hamas will delay talks on the release of the remaining hostages indefinitely. Hamdan presented documents showing Hamas agreed to a US bridging proposal that transition talks would begin on the 16th day of the first phase and be concluded in the fifth week.
Recently, Hamas has objected to what it claims are new Israeli demands to maintain a presence along the Gaza-Egypt border and on a road connecting north and south Gaza. Israel denies that these are new demands, saying it needs a presence along the border to prevent arms smuggling and that it must search Palestinians returning to northern Gaza to ensure they are not armed.
The demands were only recently made public. According to documents obtained by the AP and confirmed by officials involved in the negotiations, Hamas has demanded a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces, which was also part of all previous versions of the ceasefire proposal.
On Thursday, U.S. State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said the broader framework of the agreement put forward by Biden in May had been widely accepted and that negotiations were a process that was expected to continue.
“People lack air to breathe”
The war began when Hamas-led militants stormed the heavily guarded border on October 7. The attack shocked Israel’s vaunted security and intelligence agencies. The fighters rampaged through farming communities and army bases, killing around 1,200 people, most of them civilians.
They kidnapped another 250 people. More than 100 were released during a week-long ceasefire in November, and About 110 people are said to still be in the Gaza Stripalthough Israeli authorities estimate that about a third of them died on October 7 or in captivity. Seven were rescued during military operations.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive killed 40,005 Palestinians, Gaza’s Health Ministry said on Thursday. without saying how many militants there wereThe offensive has left a trail of devastation across the area and displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s 2.3 million residents, often multiple times.
“Oh Lord, we hope they reach an agreement and the war ends because the population has been completely wiped out,” Abu Nidal Eweini told the Associated Press in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah. “People are out of breath. They are tired.”
Successive evacuation orders and military operations have driven hundreds of thousands of people into a so-called humanitarian zone along the coast, where they live in overcrowded tent camps with few services. Aid agencies are struggling to deliver food and supplies. Warnings of famine.
Although Hamas suffered heavy losses, its fighters repeatedly managed to regroup, even in heavily damaged areas where Israeli forces had previously operated.
Israeli military spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Thursday that the army had killed more than 17,000 Hamas fighters in Gaza since the war began, without providing any evidence.
Meanwhile, Hezbollah is trading blows with Israel along the border, which the Lebanese militant group describes as a support front for its ally Hamas. Other Iranian-backed groups in the region have attacked Israeli, American and international targets, provoking retaliatory strikes.
Direct shelling between Iran and Israel occurred for the first time in April, after Iran sought retaliation for an Israeli attack on its embassy compound in Syria that killed two Iranian generals. Many fear a repeat after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was visiting Iran for the inauguration of the new president. Blame for the explosion was widely placed on Israel. Israel has not commented on whether it was involved.
Hezbollah has vowed to avenge the killing of its commander Fouad Shukur, raising fears that it could lead to an even more devastating continuation of the 2006 war between Israel and the militant group.
Still, Iran and Hezbollah say they do not want a full-blown war, and a ceasefire in Gaza could offer a way out after days of escalating threats and a massive military build-up throughout the region.
While mediation efforts to end the war are still ongoing, violence in the occupied West Bank continued on Thursday. According to Palestinian health officials, one Palestinian was shot dead by Israeli settlers and another was seriously injured. Israeli and Palestinian media reported that masked settlers stormed the village of Jit in the northern West Bank and set fire to houses and cars.
It was the youngest in a Series of settler attacks since the outbreak of the war. More than 633 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the West Bank, most in Israeli attacks on Palestinian towns and villages.
In a rare statement on Thursday evening, Netanyahu condemned the attack and said it was the army’s responsibility to protect the country and that those responsible for the attack would be arrested and prosecuted.
The Israeli military said it had arrested a civilian involved in the violence and launched an investigation.
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Goldenberg reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Bassem Mroue in Beirut, Wafaa Shurafa in Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip, Aamer Madhani in Washington and David Klepper in Chicago contributed to this report.
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