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LAST UPDATE | 7 Jul
ISRAEL AND HAMAS are due to resume indirect talks in Qatar, according to a Palestinian official, ahead of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting in Washington with President Donald Trump, who is pushing for a deal.
The latest round of negotiations on the war in Gaza began on Sunday in Doha, aiming to broker a ceasefire and reach an agreement on the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
A Palestinian official familiar with the negotiations told AFP indirect talks were due to resume today between Hamas and Israeli delegations.
As of 2.30pm Irish time, there was no confirmation the talks had begun, however.
Speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, the official said the delegations had exchanged views on Sunday via mediators, with representatives of the two sides seated in different rooms in the same building.
Ahead of Netanyahu’s third visit since Trump’s return to office this year, the US President said there was a “good chance we have a deal with Hamas… during the coming week”.
“We’ve gotten a lot of the hostages out, but pertaining to the remaining hostages, quite a few of them will be coming out,” he told journalists.
Netanyahu, speaking before boarding his flight to Washington on Sunday, said his meeting with Trump could “definitely help advance this” deal.
He said he had dispatched the team to Doha with “clear instructions” to reach an agreement “under the conditions that we have agreed to.”
He previously said Hamas’s response to a draft US-backed ceasefire proposal, conveyed through Qatari and Egyptian mediators, contained “unacceptable” demands.
Two Palestinian sources close to the discussions had earlier told AFP the proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel.
However, they said, the group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel’s withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations, and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system.
Netanyahu has an “important mission” in Washington, “advancing a deal to bring all our hostages home”, said Israeli President Isaac Herzog.
Trump is not scheduled to meet the Israeli premier until 11.30pm Irish time, the White House said, without the usual presence of journalists.
Of the 251 hostages taken by Hamas militants during the 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Since Hamas’s October 2023 attack sparked the current Israeli offensive in Gaza, mediators have brokered two temporary halts in the fighting. They have seen hostages freed in exchange for some of the thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli custody.
Israel broke the last ceasefire agreement and resumed its offensive on 18 March. Recent efforts to broker a new truce have repeatedly failed, with the primary point of contention being Israel’s rejection of Hamas’s demand for a lasting ceasefire.
In Gaza, the territory’s civil defence agency said Israeli forces killed at least 12 people today, including six in a clinic housing people displaced by the war.
Media restrictions in Gaza and difficulties in accessing many areas mean AFP is unable to independently verify the tolls and details provided by the civil defence agency.
The Israeli military did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.
Salman Qudum, who told AFP he had survived the attack on the clinic in Gaza City, said: “We don’t know where to go or what to do.”
Qudum said the negotiators and mediators in Doha must “apply pressure” to secure a ceasefire “because the people can’t take this anymore”.
In a statement, the military said it had struck “dozens of terrorists, weapons depots, observation posts, military buildings and other terror infrastructures” across Gaza over the past 24 hours.
The war has created dire humanitarian conditions for the more than two million people in the Gaza Strip.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), backed by armed US contractors with Israeli troops on the perimeter, began operations at the end of May, two months after Israel imposed a total aid blockade on Gaza amid after breaking a ceasefire.
Since then, over 500 Palestinians have been killed near aid centres while trying to receive supplies. On a number of occasions, Israeli forces have opened fire on crowds of hungry people who were making their way to distribution points operated by the GHF.
Last month, members of the Israeli Defence Forces (IDF) told the Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the army has deliberately fired at Palestinians near aid distribution sites over the past month to drive them away, even though they posed no threat.
The UN and a number of organisations have called for the group to be dismantled, with Médecins Sans Frontières calling it “slaughter masquerading as aid”.
Hamas’s October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 57,523 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Palestinian health ministry. The UN considers the figures reliable.
Need more information on what is happening in Israel and Gaza? Check out our new FactCheck Knowledge Bank for essential reads and guides to navigating the news online.
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