Israel to send delegation to Qatar to ‘advance’ ceasefire negotiations

Gaza Strip: Israel has announced that it will send a delegation to Qatar on Monday to push forward negotiations on a ceasefire in Gaza. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed the decision, stating that Israel had accepted the invitation of US-backed mediators but provided no further details. Meanwhile, Hamas has reported “positive signals” in talks with Egyptian and Qatari mediators regarding the delayed second phase of the truce, though Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif al-Qanoua also did not disclose specifics. The negotiations for this phase were supposed to begin a month ago.

There was no immediate response from the White House, which recently confirmed that the US has held direct talks with Hamas. Over the past week, Israel has urged Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in exchange for an extension of the first phase of the ceasefire and a commitment to negotiating a lasting truce. Hamas is believed to be holding 24 living hostages and the bodies of 35 others. Israel cut off all supplies to Gaza and its population of more than two million last weekend in an effort to pressure Hamas into agreeing to its terms. Hamas has warned that such actions would impact the hostages still in captivity.

The temporary ceasefire had halted the deadliest and most destructive conflict between Israel and Hamas, which was triggered by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. During the first phase of the truce, 25 hostages were released alive, while the remains of eight others were returned in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners. Israeli forces have since withdrawn to buffer zones inside Gaza, allowing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza for the first time since the early stages of the war. Humanitarian aid also entered the region in large numbers until Israel halted supplies.

As relatives of hostages prepared for their weekly demonstration in Tel Aviv, they made a direct appeal to former US President Donald Trump, who recently met with eight former hostages. They pleaded, “Mr. President, a return to war means a death sentence for the living hostages left behind. Please, sir, do not allow Netanyahu to sacrifice them.”

Meanwhile, foreign ministers from Muslim-majority nations have rejected Trump’s calls to relocate Palestinians from Gaza and instead backed a proposal for an administrative committee to govern the territory and facilitate reconstruction. During a special session of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Saudi Arabia, representatives of the 57-member bloc reaffirmed their opposition to any attempts to forcibly displace Palestinians, condemning such moves as ethnic cleansing and a violation of international law.

Without directly naming Trump, the OIC ministers denounced "policies of starvation" that they said were aimed at pushing Palestinians to leave. Trump has previously suggested that Gaza’s population should be permanently resettled elsewhere, allowing the US to take control of the territory for redevelopment—an idea widely rejected by Palestinians.

The ministers endorsed a plan led by Egypt and backed by Arab nations, including Saudi Arabia and Jordan, which proposes replacing Hamas with an administrative committee that would function under the Palestinian Authority (PA), currently based in the occupied West Bank. While Israel has consistently opposed the PA’s involvement in Gaza, it has yet to propose an alternative for postwar governance.

In a joint statement, the foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy, and the United Kingdom welcomed the Arab-led reconstruction initiative, calling it "a realistic path" toward stabilizing Gaza. They stressed that "Hamas must neither govern Gaza nor be a threat to Israel anymore," while supporting a central role for the PA in any future governance structure.

Early on Saturday, an Israeli airstrike killed two Palestinians in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, according to the local Health Ministry. The Israeli military stated that it had targeted individuals suspected of operating a drone that entered Israeli airspace.

The ongoing war has resulted in more than 48,000 Palestinian deaths, primarily women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not specify how many of the dead were militants. Hamas’ attack on Israel in October 2023 killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and led to the abduction of 251 hostages. While most have been released through ceasefire agreements or other arrangements, Hamas still holds the remains of a soldier killed during the 2014 war.

With PTI inputs