Israel sending negotiating team to Qatar for Gaza ceasefire talks

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s bureau says Hamas requests for changes to truce connection ‘unacceptable’.

Israel is sending a negotiating squad to Qatar for talks connected a Gaza ceasefire proposal, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed.

In a connection precocious connected Saturday, Netanyahu’s bureau said the squad would question connected Sunday aft the Israeli person had instructed negotiators “to judge the invitation for adjacent talks”.

But the connection said that “the changes Hamas is requesting to marque to the Qatari connection were delivered to america past nighttime and are unacceptable to Israel”. It did not elaborate connected what changes were being requested.

Hamas said connected Friday that it had fixed a “positive” effect to a United States-brokered connection that would impact a 60-day truce successful Gaza, renewing hopes of a imaginable extremity to Israel’s deadly battle connected the Palestinian enclave.

More than 57,300 Palestinians person been killed successful Israeli attacks crossed Gaza since the October 2023 commencement of the war, which has decimated the territory and spurred a dire humanitarian crisis.

But for months, experts person accused Netanyahu – who faces increasing home unit to unafraid the merchandise of Israeli captives held successful Gaza – of blocking attempts to scope a woody that would extremity Israel’s offensive.

Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut explained that the captives’ families person accused the Israeli premier curate of “prioritising politics” implicit the lives of their loved-ones.

“His existent right-wing allies – the crushed wherefore Netanyahu is successful powerfulness – don’t privation a deal,” she said, adding that United States President Donald Trump has besides been pushing for an statement betwixt Israel and Hamas.

Trump volition big Netanyahu for talks astatine the White House successful Washington, DC, connected Monday.

Earlier connected Saturday, Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir – a cardinal subordinate of Netanyahu’s governing conjugation – called connected the Israeli premier curate to “abandon the way of surrender”.

In a station connected X, Ben-Gvir wrote that immoderate ceasefire woody that would see Israel’s withdrawal from “conquered territories”, the merchandise of Palestinian prisoners, oregon the “revitalisation of Hamas with humanitarian aid” would represent a “reward for terrorism”.

“The lone mode to execute triumph and securely instrumentality our hostages is done the implicit conquest of the Strip, a full cessation of ‘humanitarian’ aid, and the encouragement to emigration,” helium said.

“I telephone connected the premier curate to wantonness the way of surrender and instrumentality to the way of victory.”

Meanwhile, Hamas has insisted that immoderate statement indispensable see guarantees that Israel volition permanently extremity its warfare connected Gaza.

Reporting from Amman, Jordan, due to the fact that Al Jazeera is banned successful Israel and the occupied West Bank, Salhut explained that Hamas has made requests for 3 halfway amendments to the ceasefire proposal.

“They wanted the talks for ending the warfare to proceed if determination was a intermission successful the fighting, if that 60 days was over,” she said.

The Palestinian radical besides wants humanitarian assistance to beryllium delivered to Gaza done planetary mechanisms alternatively of the US- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), Salhut said.

More than 700 Palestinians person been killed portion seeking assistance astatine GHF sites since the radical began operating successful the Strip successful precocious May.

“The 3rd [request] was astir wherever Israeli forces could beryllium successful the Gaza Strip arsenic portion of this deal,” Salhut added.