WASHINGTON (AP) — The leaders of the United States, Egypt and Qatar have jointly demanded that Israel and Hamas return to stalled talks. War in Gaza Next week, “only the details” of a ceasefire and the release of hostages are under negotiation. “There is no more time to waste, and there are no excuses from either party for the delay,” they said in a joint statement.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said on Thursday, “In accordance with the proposal of the United States and mediators, Israel will – on August 15 – send a negotiating team to a decision-making place to finalize the details of the implementation of the framework. agreement.”
President Joe Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Qatari Emir Tamim al-Thani, mediators in closed-door talks to end the devastating 10-month war in Gaza, set up talks in Doha, Qatar, on August 15. Or Cairo.
A senior US official, speaking to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the mediators’ motivation, said only four or five disagreements on implementation remain to be resolved between the two adversaries.
The official cited as an example the time when Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and hostages held by Hamas were systematically exchanged.
Egypt, the United States and Qatar have said they are ready to make proposals at next week’s talks to resolve the remaining issues.
Netanyahu’s critics accuse him of slow progress in talks to end the war in Gaza, which began on Oct. 7 when Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people in Israel. Almost 40,000 people have been killed in Israel’s offensive in Gaza since then.
There was no immediate response to Hamas’s offer. The killing of its top political leader in Tehran last week raised tensions across the region, widely seen as a blow to ceasefire talks. The killing was widely blamed on Israel, although Israel has not commented.
U.S. officials say Hamas could resume negotiations despite the July 31 assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, who was leading negotiations for Hamas.
Hamas military chief Yahya Shinwar, who is believed to have taken refuge from an Israeli attack in underground bunkers beneath Gaza, took over as the group’s political leader. State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said representatives other than Hamas Haniyeh attended the talks.
