Indirect talks between Israel, Hamas for Gaza ceasefire still ongoing: Qatar

Qatar said, Tuesday, that indirect talks between Hamas and Israel are still ongoing between technical teams, Anadolu Agency reports.

“We are continuing our mediation efforts with our partners,” Foreign Ministry spokesman, Majed Al-Ansari, told a press conference in Doha.

He cited “difficulties” on the ground related to the ceasefire negotiations.

“There is no set timeline for the indirect negotiations,” the spokesman said.

The Israeli government, on Tuesday, pulled its negotiating team out of indirect talks with Hamas in the Qatari capital, accusing the Palestinian group of being “not interested in continuing talks” after allegedly rejecting a US-brokered compromise.

Hamas said, on Monday, it is still sticking to the original proposal presented two weeks ago for a cease-fire. The Palestinian group said Israel’s response to the ceasefire proposal did not meet Palestinian demands.

READ: Israel steps up attacks on Gaza’s hospitals

Hamas demands an end to Israel’s deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip and the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the Territory for any hostage-prisoner swap deal with Tel Aviv.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Palestinian Territory since a 7 October cross-border attack by Hamas which killed nearly 1,200 people.

However, since then, it has been revealed by Haaretz that helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.

Over 32,400 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 74,800 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

On Monday, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan. While Hamas welcomed the resolution, Israel rejected the ceasefire call and vowed to continue its war on the Palestinian enclave.

The Israeli war, now in its 172nd day, has pushed 85 per cent of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60 per cent of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the ICJ which, in January, issued an interim ruling that ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

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