The initial round of indirect ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel, held in Qatar, concluded without a breakthrough, according to two Palestinian sources familiar with the discussions. They noted that the Israeli delegation lacked the necessary mandate to finalize an agreement with Hamas.
The negotiations resumed on Sunday, just ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s upcoming third visit to the White House since U.S. President Donald Trump returned to office nearly six months ago.
“After the first session of indirect negotiations in Doha, the Israeli delegation is not sufficiently authorized … to reach an agreement with Hamas, as it has no real powers,” the sources told Reuters.
Netanyahu said, before his departure to Washington, that Israeli negotiators taking part in the ceasefire talks have clear instructions to achieve a ceasefire agreement under conditions that Israel has accepted.
On Saturday evening, crowds gathered at a public square in Tel Aviv near the defence ministry headquarters to call for a ceasefire deal and the return of around 50 hostages still held in Gaza.
The demonstrators waved Israeli flags, chanted and carried posters with photos of the hostages.
The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Around 20 of the remaining hostages are believed to be still alive.
A majority of the original hostages have been freed through diplomatic negotiations, though the Israeli military has also recovered some.
Gaza’s health ministry says Israel’s retaliatory military assault on the enclave has killed over 57,000 Palestinians. It has also caused a hunger crisis, displaced the population, mostly within Gaza, and left the territory in ruins.
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