Cairo, Egypt – A senior Hamas official said that a fresh round of Gaza ceasefire talks began on Tuesday in the Qatari capital Doha, with the Palestinian movement approaching the negotiations “positively and responsibly”.
The first 42-day phase of the truce deal expired in early March without agreement on subsequent stages meant to secure a lasting end to the war, which erupted after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
There are differing views on how to proceed, with Hamas seeking immediate negotiations for the next phase, while Israel wants to extend the first phase.
Hamas has accused Israel of reneging on the ceasefire deal, stating in a statement on Monday that Israel “refuses to commence the second phase, exposing its intentions of evasion and stalling”.
Ahead of the current round of talks, Israel halted the supply of electricity to Gaza’s only desalination plant, a move Hamas condemned as “cheap and unacceptable blackmail.”
Israel has already stopped aid deliveries to Gaza amid the deadlock over the ceasefire.
“Denying the flow of food, medicines, fuel and basic relief means has led to a spike in food prices and a severe shortage of medical supplies, exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” Hamas said in a separate statement.
The initial phase of the truce brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States began on January 19, and helped reduce hostilities after more than 15 months of relentless fighting that displaced nearly all of Gaza’s 2.4 million residents.
Air strikes in Gaza
While the fate of the ceasefire remains uncertain, both sides have largely refrained from all-out hostilities.
However, in recent days, Israel has conducted daily strikes targeting militants in Gaza.
On Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike killed four men in Gaza City, according to the territory’s civil defence agency.
The Israeli military said that its air forces had struck “several terrorists engaged in suspicious activity posing a threat to IDF (Israeli) troops”.
During the ceasefire’s first phase, 25 living Israeli hostages and eight bodies were exchanged for around 1,800 Palestinians in Israeli custody.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack led to the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, most of them civilians, while Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,503 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to data from both sides.
In recent days, US hostages envoy Adam Boehler held unprecedented direct talks with Hamas and said an agreement for releasing more captives was expected “in the coming weeks”.
But US Secretary of State Marco Rubio talked down the prospects of a breakthrough from those discussions.
“That was a one-off situation in which our special envoy for hostages, whose job it is to get people released, had an opportunity to talk directly to someone who has control over these people and was given permission and encouraged to do so,” Rubio told journalists late on Monday in Jeddah.
“It hasn’t borne fruit. But it… doesn’t mean he was wrong to try”.
Yemen rebels to resume attacks on Israeli shipping over blocked Gaza aid
The rebels said on Tuesday that the ban on Israeli shipping would “take effect from the time this statement is issued” and that “any Israeli ship attempting to violate this ban shall be targeted in the declared zone of operations”.
The attacks will continue until Israel allows aid deliveries in Gaza, the Huthis said.
