Skip to main content

Israel to send delegation to Qatar for Gaza talks despite 'unacceptable' Hamas demands

1 min Mena Today

Israel will send a delegation to Qatar on Sunday for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the changes requested by Hamas to a ceasefire proposal were unacceptable.

Doha, Qatar © Mena Today

Doha, Qatar © Mena Today

Israel will send a delegation to Qatar on Sunday for talks on a possible Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, although Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said the changes requested by Hamas to a ceasefire proposal were unacceptable.

Palestinian group Hamas said on Friday it had responded to a U.S.-backed Gaza ceasefire proposal in a "positive spirit", a few days after U.S. President Donald Trump said Israel had agreed "to the necessary conditions to finalize" a 60-day truce.

But in a sign of the potential challenges still facing the two sides, a Palestinian official from a militant group allied with Hamas said concerns remained over humanitarian aid, passage through the Rafah crossing in southern Israel to Egypt and clarity over a timetable for Israeli troop withdrawals.

"The changes that Hamas seeks to make to the Qatari proposal were conveyed to us last night and are not acceptable to Israel," Netanyahu's office said in a statement late on Saturday.

The prime minister's office added that the delegation will still fly to Qatar for talks over a possible deal to "continue the efforts to secure the return of our hostages based on the Qatari proposal that Israel agreed to."

Netanyahu, who is due to meet Trump in Washington on Monday, has repeatedly said Hamas must be disarmed, a position the militant group, which is thought to be holding 20 living hostages, has so far refused to discuss.

The latest bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Reporting by Emily Rose

 

Related

Subscribe to our newsletter

Mena banner 4

To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.

  • Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.