Jerusalem, March 9 (IANS) Israel will send a delegation to Qatar’s capital Doha on Monday to advance negotiations for renewing the ceasefire in Gaza and securing the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, according to a statement issued by the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office.
The statement said on Saturday that Israel had accepted the invitation of the mediating countries, backed by the US, Xinhua news agency reported.
Earlier on Saturday, Hamas said there were positive signs regarding negotiations for the second phase of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif Al-Qanou said in a press statement that “the efforts of Egyptian and Qatari mediators are ongoing to finalise the implementation of the ceasefire agreement and initiate negotiations for its second phase, with positive indicators in that direction”.
He emphasised Hamas’s readiness to engage in these negotiations in a manner that meets the demands of the Palestinian people.
There was no immediate comment from the White House, which made the surprise confirmation on Wednesday of direct US talks with Hamas.
Over the past week, Israel has pressed Hamas to release half of the remaining hostages in return for an extension of the first phase, which ended last weekend, and a promise to negotiate a lasting truce. Hamas is believed to have 24 living hostages and the bodies of 34 others.
Israel last weekend cut off all supplies to Gaza and its more than two million people as it pressed Hamas to agree. Hamas has said that the move would affect the remaining hostages as well.
The ceasefire has paused the deadliest and most destructive fighting ever between Israel and Hamas, sparked by the Hamas-led terrorist attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. The first phase allowed the return of 25 living hostages and the remains of eight others in exchange for the release of nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli forces have withdrawn to buffer zones inside Gaza, hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza for the first time since early in the war, and hundreds of trucks of aid entered per day until Israel suspended supplies.
Before their weekly rally in Tel Aviv, relatives of hostages appealed to US President Donald Trump, who met with eight former hostages on Wednesday.
“Mr. President, a return to war means a death sentence for the living hostages left behind. Please, sir, do not allow Netanyahu to sacrifice them.”
Foreign Ministers from Muslim nations rejected Trump’s calls to empty the Gaza Strip of its Palestinian population on Saturday and backed a plan for an administrative committee to govern the territory to allow reconstruction to proceed.
The Foreign Ministers gathered in Saudi Arabia for a special session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation to address the situation in Gaza. The OIC has 57 nations with largely Muslim populations.
They supported a plan to rebuild Gaza put forward by Egypt and backed by Arab states, including Saudi Arabia and Jordan.
Without mentioning Trump, the Ministers’ statement said that they rejected “plans aimed at displacing the Palestinian people individually or collectively … as ethnic cleansing, a grave violation of international law and a crime against humanity”.
They also condemned “policies of starvation” they said aim to push Palestinians to leave, a reference to Israel’s cutting off all supplies to Gaza.
Trump has called for Gaza’s population to be resettled elsewhere permanently, so that the United States can take over the territory and develop it for others. Palestinians have rejected calls to leave.
The Ministers at the OIC gathering supported a proposal that an administrative committee replace Hamas in governing Gaza. The committee would work “under the umbrella” of the Palestinian Authority (PA), based in the occupied West Bank. Israel has rejected the PA having any role in Gaza but hasn’t put forward an alternative for postwar rule.
The Foreign Ministers of France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom said in a joint statement that they welcome the Arab initiative for a Gaza reconstruction plan, calling it “a realistic path”. They added that “Hamas must neither govern Gaza nor be a threat to Israel anymore,” and they support the central role for the PA.
Early on Saturday, an Israeli strike killed two Palestinians in the southernmost city of Rafah, the Health Ministry there said. The Israeli military said that it struck several men who appeared to be flying a drone that entered Israel.
Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t say how many of the dead were fighters. Israel says about 18,000 were Hamas terrorists.
Hamas’ attack in October 2023 killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, inside Israel and took 251 people hostage. Most have been released in ceasefire agreements or other arrangements.
–IANS
int/khz
