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A team of midlevel Israeli negotiators arrived in Qatar on Monday for indirect negotiations with Hamas on the fate of the Gaza ceasefire and remaining hostages held by the militants, as the two sides remain sharply at odds over the next stage.
The resumption of the negotiations is taking place against a backdrop of uncertainty over the fate of the January ceasefire deal mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar for more than a year.
Moreover, sources familiar with the matter told The National on Monday that Israel's level of representation in Doha underlined an apparent lack of interest in negotiating the second phase of the deal, which involves an end to the Gaza war and a full Israeli withdrawal from the territory.
US envoy Adam Boehler, who recently held unprecedented direct talks with Hamas officials, said on Sunday a deal could be reached "within weeks" to secure the release of all remaining hostages. However, Israel is increasing pressure on Hamas to release the captives, cutting off the supply of electricity to Gaza a week after it halted the entry into the enclave of all humanitarian assistance.
"The talk by the occupation [Israel] about military plans to resume fighting in Gaza and the decision to cut off electricity are doomed moves that pose a threat to their hostages who will not be released except through negotiations," a Hamas spokesman, Abdel-Latif Al Qanoua, said on Monday.
Egypt has in the meantime presented Israel and Hamas with new proposals to break the deadlock over the ceasefire, including a 60-day truce, the release of the remaining hostages held by the militants and the start of negotiations on ending the war, according to sources familiar with the matter.
They said Hamas's initial response was “encouraging”. Israeli officials are studying the proposals, they added.
The proposals, said the sources, were discussed in Cairo over the weekend by Egyptian mediators and top Hamas officials. Mr Al Qanoua, the Hamas spokesman, had previously said there were “positive signals” in the group's latest talks with mediators.
On Monday, he said negotiations with the Egyptian and Qatari mediators, as well as Mr Boehler, were "focused on ending the war, the Israeli withdrawal and reconstruction."
Under the Egyptian proposals, the sources said, Hamas will kick off the two-month truce with the release of 10 living hostages, including all or some of the five Americans believed to be held by the group in Gaza. Of the five Americans, only one is believed to be alive.
The Palestinian group on Monday accused Israel of going back on the agreement and refusing to begin the second phase of the ceasefire.
A 42-day ceasefire in Gaza that came into effect on January 19 paused the war in Gaza after 15 months of fighting and led to the release of 33 hostages – 25 living and the remains of eight others – who had been held by Hamas, in exchange for some 2,000 Palestinians incarcerated in Israel.
As part of the agreement, Israel and Hamas should have started negotiations on the second phase of the deal in early February, but they never did. Instead, Israel offered an extension of the first phase until mid-April and pressed Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Hamas has rejected the offer, insisting on a transition to negotiations on the second phase.
The latest Israel-Hamas war was sparked by the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 were killed and about 250 taken back to Gaza as hostages. Israel's military response to the attack has killed more than 48,400 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health ministry. It has also reduced to rubble most of the sector's built-up areas, and displaced the vast majority of its 2.3 million residents.
