An Israeli delegation has travelled to Qatar after a brand new Hamas proposal earlier this week generated renewed hope for a truce settlement, as combating continues to rage throughout Gaza.
The Israeli negotiators, led by spy chief David Barnea, met mediators in Doha on Friday, in keeping with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s workplace. The talks had been set to renew subsequent week, the workplace mentioned, when one other negotiating workforce could be deployed to Qatar.
The workplace added there have been nonetheless “gaps between the events” of their positions.
The most recent growth got here after Hamas on Wednesday mentioned it had offered new “concepts” to Qatari, Egyptian and Turkish mediators on attain a ceasefire and captive-exchange deal to halt the nine-month-long battle.
No less than 38,011 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s conflict on Gaza, which started following a Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on October 7 that killed at the least 1,139 individuals, in keeping with an Al Jazeera tally based mostly on Israeli statistics.
Whereas particulars of Hamas’s newest proposal weren’t instantly clear, a US official mentioned Thursday they contained a considerable shift within the group’s earlier place. The official, in a name with reporters, described the replace as a “breakthrough”, whereas cautioning that obstacles remained.
On Friday, Hamas spokesperson Jihad Taha mentioned the group’s newest proposals “have been met with a optimistic response by the mediators”, whereas including “the official Israeli place has not but grow to be clear”, in keeping with The Related Press information company.
Each Israel and Hamas have come beneath elevated strain to achieve a deal, however talks surrounding a United Nations-backed plan outlined by US President Joe Biden in Could have stalled in latest weeks.
A significant sticking level for Hamas has been whether or not Israel would resume combating after the handfuls of Israeli captives nonetheless held by the group had been launched. In the meantime, regardless of repeated US claims that Israel supported the plan, Netanyahu has repeatedly mentioned the conflict wouldn’t finish till Hamas is “eradicated”.
In a name with Biden on Thursday, Netanyahu once more mentioned the conflict would solely finish with Israel “attaining all its targets”.
Preventing continues in Gaza
Regardless of the newest diplomatic flurry, combating continued to rage in Gaza on Friday, with Israeli forces focusing their assaults on the southern cities of Khan Younis and Rafah and northern Gaza Metropolis.
No less than 10 our bodies had been taken to Nasser Hospital following assaults on the 2 southern cities, hospital officers advised Al Jazeera correspondent Tareq Abu Azzoum.
He additionally reported “unrelenting” assaults in Gaza Metropolis’s Shujayea neighbourhood the place he mentioned the Israeli army has been “demolishing whole blocks”.
In the meantime, the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, claimed its fighters had killed 10 Israeli troopers in an ambush in Shujayea. Israel’s army didn’t instantly touch upon the declare.
Tensions remained excessive across the Lebanon-Israel border, the place elevated combating between Hezbollah and the Israeli army has continued to stoke issues over a wider escalation. The Lebanese group mentioned it focused a number of Israeli army positions close to the border on Friday.
Hezbollah later mentioned in a press release that chief Hassan Nasrallah had met a Hamas delegation to debate “the newest developments within the negotiations” and “safety and political developments” in Gaza and the area.
The combating in Gaza has uprooted about 90 p.c of Gaza’s inhabitants, forcing many to stay in unsanitary situations with little entry to healthcare or different assist. Practically 500,000 individuals face “catastrophic” starvation within the enclave, in keeping with the United Nations.
On Friday, EU overseas coverage chief Josep Borrell and European Commissioner for Disaster Administration Janez Lenarcic warned that Israeli military orders this week for greater than 250,000 Palestinians to evacuate from japanese Khan Younis would solely additional inflame the humanitarian disaster.
“This evacuation choice is definite to worsen overcrowding, and trigger extreme shortages within the already overwhelmed remaining hospitals, at a time when entry to emergency medical care is crucial,” the 2 wrote in a joint assertion, including that compelled evacuations are creating “a humanitarian disaster inside the disaster”.
“A ceasefire is all of the extra necessary now, and would make doable a surge of humanitarian help to Gaza in addition to the discharge of all hostages,” they mentioned.
