Truce talks stuck over Israeli troop withdrawal
US President Donald Trump has said that he is closing in on another ceasefire agreement that would see more hostages released and potentially wind down the war.
But after two days of talks this week with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu there were no signs of a breakthrough. Hamas continues to hold some 50 hostages, at least 20 of whom are believed to still be alive.
According to Palestinian and Israeli sources familiar with the negotiations, the talks were stalling over the extent of Israeli forces’ withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave, Palestinian and Israeli sources familiar with the negotiations in Doha said on Saturday.
The indirect talks over a US proposal for a 60-day ceasefire are nonetheless expected to continue, the sources said.
Delegations from Israel and Hamas have been in Qatar for a week in a renewed push for an agreement which envisages a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals and discussions on ending the war.
Trump, who hosted Netanyahu over the past week, had said he hoped for a deal soon. But the Israeli and Palestinian sources described longstanding issues that remain unresolved.
A Palestinian source said that Hamas had rejected withdrawal maps which Israel had proposed that would leave around 40% of Gaza under Israeli control, including all of the southern area of Rafah and further territories in northern and eastern Gaza.
Two Israeli sources said Hamas wanted Israel to retreat to lines it held in a previous ceasefire before it renewed its offensive in March.
The Palestinian source said matters regarding aid and guarantees on an end to the war were also presenting a challenge.
The crisis could be resolved with more US intervention, the source said.
Hamas has long demanded an agreement to end the war before it would free remaining hostages; Israel has insisted it would end the fighting only when all hostages are released and Hamas is dismantled as a fighting force and administration in Gaza.
Meanwhile, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 28 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip including four children, while 24 others were fatally shot on their way to aid distribution sites, Palestinian hospital officials and witnesses said on Saturday.
The children and two women were among at least 13 people who were killed in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, after Israeli airstrikes pounded the area starting late Friday, officials in Al-Aqsa Martyr’s Hospital said. Fifteen others died in Israeli airstrikes in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, according to Nasser Hospital.
At least 24 people were killed on their way to a food distribution site near Rafah run by an Israeli-backed American organisation, said hospital officials and witnesses, including those wounded.
The Israeli military said it had fired warning shots toward people it said were behaving suspiciously to prevent them from approaching. It added it was not aware of any casualties from the incident. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation said no incident occurred near its sites.
Israel’s offensive, sparked by Hamas’ attack on October 7, 2023, has killed over 57,800 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.
The ministry, which is under Gaza’s Hamas-run government, doesn’t differentiate between civilians and combatants in its count. The UN and other international organisations see its figures as the most reliable statistics on war casualties.
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