The initial round of indirect ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel, held in Qatar, ended without a breakthrough, two Palestinian sources familiar with the matter said early Monday, adding that the Israeli delegation lacked a strong enough mandate to finalise any agreement with Hamas.
The talks resumed on Sunday, ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s third visit to the White House since US President Donald Trump returned to power nearly six months ago.
‘No Real Powers’
“After the first session of indirect negotiations in Doha, the Israeli delegation is not sufficiently authorized … to reach an agreement with Hamas, as it has no real powers,” the sources told Reuters.
Netanyahu said, before his departure to Washington, that Israeli negotiators taking part in the ceasefire talks have clear instructions to achieve a ceasefire agreement under conditions that Israel has accepted.
Anticipation In Tel Aviv
On Saturday evening, crowds gathered at a public square in Tel Aviv near the defence ministry headquarters to call for a ceasefire deal and the return of around 50 hostages still held in Gaza. The demonstrators waved Israeli flags, chanted and carried posters with photos of the hostages.
The latest round of bloodshed in the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched a surprise attack on southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to official Israeli tallies.
Over 55,000 Killed
Around 20 of the remaining hostages are believed to still be alive. A majority of the original hostages have been freed through sustained diplomatic negotiations, though a few were also recovered by the Israeli military during rescue operations.
Gaza’s health ministry says Israel’s retaliatory military assault on the enclave has killed over 57,000 Palestinians. It has also caused a hunger crisis, displaced the population, mostly within Gaza, and left the territory in ruins.
(With inputs from Reuters)
