Cairo:
A senior Hamas official mentioned {that a} contemporary spherical of Gaza ceasefire talks started on Tuesday within the Qatari capital Doha, with the Palestinian motion approaching the negotiations “positively and responsibly”.
“A brand new spherical of ceasefire negotiations started right this moment,” Abdul Rahman Shadid mentioned in an announcement. “Our motion is coping with these negotiations positively and responsibly.”
Israel has additionally despatched a workforce of negotiators for talks aimed toward extending the delicate ceasefire in Gaza, however has thus far not commented on the talks.
“We hope that the present spherical of negotiations results in tangible progress towards starting the second part,” Shadid mentioned.
He additionally expressed hope that US Center East envoy Steve Witkoff would assist “provoke negotiations for the second part of the ceasefire settlement”.
“The US administration bears accountability resulting from its unwavering help for the occupying (Israeli) authorities.”
The primary 42-day part of the truce deal expired in early March with out settlement on subsequent levels meant to safe a long-lasting finish to the warfare, which erupted after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, assault on Israel.
There are differing views on learn how to proceed, with Hamas in search of fast negotiations for the subsequent part, whereas Israel desires to increase the primary part.
Hamas has accused Israel of reneging on the ceasefire deal, stating in an announcement on Monday that Israel “refuses to begin the second part, exposing its intentions of evasion and stalling”.
Forward of the present spherical of talks, Israel halted the provision of electrical energy to Gaza’s solely desalination plant, a transfer Hamas condemned as “low-cost and unacceptable blackmail.”
Israel has already stopped help deliveries to Gaza amid the impasse over the ceasefire.
“Denying the circulation of meals, medicines, gasoline and primary reduction means has led to a spike in meals costs and a extreme scarcity of medical provides, exacerbating the humanitarian disaster in Gaza,” Hamas mentioned in a separate assertion.
The preliminary part of the truce brokered by Qatar, Egypt and america started on January 19, and helped scale back hostilities after greater than 15 months of relentless combating that displaced almost all of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents.
– Air strikes in Gaza –
Whereas the destiny of the ceasefire stays unsure, either side have largely kept away from all-out hostilities.
Nonetheless, in latest days, Israel has carried out each day strikes concentrating on militants in Gaza.
On Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike killed 4 males in Gaza Metropolis, in line with the territory’s civil defence company.
The Israeli navy mentioned that its air forces had struck “a number of terrorists engaged in suspicious exercise posing a risk to IDF (Israeli) troops”.
In the course of the ceasefire’s first part, 25 residing Israeli hostages and eight our bodies have been exchanged for round 1,800 Palestinians in Israeli custody.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023, assault led to the deaths of 1,218 folks on the Israeli facet, most of them civilians, whereas Israel’s retaliatory marketing campaign has killed not less than 48,503 folks in Gaza, additionally principally civilians, in line with information from either side.
In latest days, US hostages envoy Adam Boehler held unprecedented direct talks with Hamas and mentioned an settlement for releasing extra captives was anticipated “within the coming weeks”.
However US Secretary of State Marco Rubio talked down the prospects of a breakthrough from these discussions.
“That was a one-off state of affairs by which our particular envoy for hostages, whose job it’s to get folks launched, had a possibility to speak on to somebody who has management over these folks and was given permission and inspired to take action,” Rubio advised journalists late on Monday in Jeddah.
“It hasn’t borne fruit. Nevertheless it… doesn’t suggest he was mistaken to attempt”.
(Aside from the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is revealed from a syndicated feed.)
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