Expectations High As Gaza Truce Talks Resume In Doha

(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Expectations for a Gaza ceasefire are high as Hamas and Israeli officials conduct indirect talks in Doha and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu left Sunday for the US to meet President Donald Trump, who has promised to pressure the Israeli leader to agree to end the war in the Palestinian territory.
Netanyahu said he believed his discussions with Trump on Monday would help advance talks on a Gaza hostage release and ceasefire deal that Israeli negotiators resumed in Qatar on Sunday.
Under mounting pressure to end the war, now approaching its 22nd month, the Israeli premier is scheduled to sit down Monday with Trump, who has recently made a renewed push to end the fighting.
Israeli negotiators taking part in the ceasefire talks have clear instructions to achieve a ceasefire agreement under conditions that Israel has accepted, Netanyahu said Sunday before boarding his flight to Washington.
A Palestinian official said talks in Doha would focus on conditions for a possible ceasefire, including hostage and prisoner releases, and Hamas would also seek the reopening of Gaza's Rafah crossing to evacuate the wounded.
Netanyahu's office said in a statement that changes sought by Hamas to the ceasefire proposal were "not acceptable to Israel". Netanyahu has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a demand the militant group has so far refused to discuss.
Hamas's delegation, led by its top negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, was in Doha, the official said. Israel's public broadcaster said the country's delegation had left for the Qatari capital in the early afternoon.
Two Palestinian sources close to the discussions said the proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.
However, they said, the group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel's withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations, and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system.
On the ground, Gaza's civil defence agency reported 26 people were killed by Israeli forces Sunday.
The war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip.
Israel's campaign has killed at least 57,418 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.

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