{"id":1698,"date":"2024-02-26T21:03:25","date_gmt":"2024-02-26T21:03:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/?p=1698"},"modified":"2024-02-26T21:03:25","modified_gmt":"2024-02-26T21:03:25","slug":"israelis-hamas-in-qatar-for-proximity-talks-on-ceasefire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/israelis-hamas-in-qatar-for-proximity-talks-on-ceasefire\/","title":{"rendered":"Israelis, Hamas in Qatar for proximity talks on ceasefire"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Israeli officials headed on Monday to Qatar, where the ruling Emir separately met the chief of Hamas, as the enemies in\u00a0the Gaza war\u00a0closed in on a\u00a0ceasefire-and-hostage deal\u00a0that Washington says is now within reach,\u00a0<i>Reuters<\/i>\u00a0reports.<\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">The presence of both sides for so-called proximity talks \u2013 meeting mediators separately while in the same city \u2013 suggested negotiations were further along than at any time since a big push at the start of February, when Israel rejected a Hamas counter-offer for a four-and-a-half-month truce.<\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">In public, both sides continued to take positions far apart on the ultimate aims of a truce, while blaming each other for holding up the talks.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"ar\" dir=\"rtl\">\u0633\u0645\u0648 \u0627\u0644\u0623\u0645\u064a\u0631 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0641\u062f\u0649 \u064a\u0633\u062a\u0642\u0628\u0644 \u0627\u0644\u062f\u0643\u062a\u0648\u0631 \u0625\u0633\u0645\u0627\u0639\u064a\u0644 \u0647\u0646\u064a\u0629 \u0631\u0626\u064a\u0633 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0643\u062a\u0628 \u0627\u0644\u0633\u064a\u0627\u0633\u064a \u0644\u062d\u0631\u0643\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0645\u0642\u0627\u0648\u0645\u0629 \u0627\u0644\u0625\u0633\u0644\u0627\u0645\u064a\u0629 \u0641\u064a \u0641\u0644\u0633\u0637\u064a\u0646 (\u062d\u0645\u0627\u0633)\u060c \u0648\u0630\u0644\u0643 \u0628\u0645\u0643\u062a\u0628\u0647 \u0641\u064a \u0642\u0635\u0631 \u0644\u0648\u0633\u064a\u0644. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JhCZ1ziedp\">https:\/\/t.co\/JhCZ1ziedp<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; \u0627\u0644\u062f\u064a\u0648\u0627\u0646 \u0627\u0644\u0623\u0645\u064a\u0631\u064a (@AmiriDiwan) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/AmiriDiwan\/status\/1762092585026220478?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">February 26, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Israel says it will agree only to a temporary pause in fighting to secure the release of hostages. Hamas says it will not free them without an agreement that leads to a permanent end to the war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">After meeting Qatar\u2019s Emir, Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani, the reclusive head of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, said his group had embraced mediators\u2019 efforts to find an end to the war, and accused Israel of stalling while Gazans die under siege.<\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cWe will not allow the enemy to use negotiations as a cover for this crime,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\"><b>READ: <a href=\"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/2024\/02\/26\/turkiye-condemns-israel-on-last-day-of-icj-hearing\/\">Turkiye condemns Israel on last day of ICJ hearing | diplomatic (diplomatique.ma)<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Israel\u2019s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Israel was ready for a deal, and it was now up to Hamas to drop demands he described as \u201coutlandish\u201d and \u201cfrom another planet\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cObviously, we want this deal if we can have it. It depends on Hamas. It\u2019s really now their decision,\u201d he told US network,\u00a0<i>Fox News,<\/i>\u00a0in an interview. \u201cThey have to come down to reality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">The office of Qatar\u2019s Emir said Al Thani and the Hamas chief had discussed Qatar\u2019s efforts to broker an \u201cimmediate and permanent ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Earlier, a source told\u00a0<i>Reuters<\/i>\u00a0that an Israeli working delegation, made up of staff from the military and the Mossad spy agency, had flown to Qatar, tasked with creating an operational centre to support negotiations there. Its mission would include vetting proposed Palestinian prisoners that Hamas wants freed as part of a hostage release deal, the source said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Israel continues to maintain in public that it will not end the war until Hamas is eradicated, while Hamas says it will not free hostages without an agreement on an end to the war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">\u201cWe\u2019re totally committed to wipe Hamas off the face of the Earth,\u201d Israel\u2019s Economy and Industry Minister, Nir Barkat, told\u00a0<i>Reuters<\/i>\u00a0at a conference in the United Arab Emirates, where his presence signalled Israel\u2019s continued acceptance by Arab states that has angered Palestinian groups.<\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, speaking to\u00a0<i>Reuters<\/i>\u00a0on Monday, said any ceasefire agreement would require \u201csecuring an end to the aggression, the withdrawal of the Occupation, the returning of the displaced, the entry of aid, shelter equipment and rebuilding\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Israel is under pressure from its main ally, the United States, to agree a truce soon, to head off a threatened Israeli assault on Rafah, the last city at Gaza Strip\u2019s southern edge where over half the enclave\u2019s 2.3 million people are sheltering, which Washington fears could become a bloodbath.<\/p>\n<h2><b>\u2018We\u2019ll go in\u2019\u00a0<\/b><\/h2>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Netanyahu insisted that the assault on Rafah was still planned, and Israel had a plan to evacuate civilians from harm\u2019s way. Asked if Israel would attack the city even if Washington asked it not to, Netanyahu said: \u201cWell, we\u2019ll go in. We make our own decisions, obviously, but we\u2019ll go in based on the idea of having also the evacuation of the civilians.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">But the momentum behind talks appears to have grown since Friday, when Israeli officials discussed terms of a hostage release deal in Paris with delegations from the United States, Egypt and Qatar, though not Hamas.<\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\"><b>READ: <a href=\"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/2024\/02\/26\/empowered-palestine-government-critical-to-achieve-lasting-peace-un\/\">Empowered Palestine government critical to achieve lasting peace: UN | diplomatic (diplomatique.ma)<\/a><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">The White House said they had come to \u201can understanding\u201d about the contours of a hostage deal though negotiations were still under way. The Israeli delegation briefed Netanyahu\u2019s war cabinet\u00a0late on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Egyptian security sources said proximity talks involving delegations from Israel and Hamas would be held this week, first in Qatar and later in Cairo.<\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Since Hamas killed 1,200 people and captured 253 hostages in its 7 October attack, Israel launched an all-out ground assault on Gaza, with nearly 30,000 people confirmed killed according to Gaza health authorities.<\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">However, since then, it has been revealed by\u00a0<i>Haaretz\u00a0<\/i>that\u00a0helicopters and tanks of the Israeli army had, in fact, killed many of the 1,139 soldiers and\u00a0civilians claimed by Israel to have been killed by the Palestinian Resistance.<\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">In a development that could have an impact on longer-term negotiations to end the conflict, the Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority, which exerts limited civil control in parts of the West Bank,\u00a0stepped down\u00a0on Monday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">Mohammad Shtayyeh said, on Monday, he was resigning\u00a0to allow for the formation of a broad consensus among Palestinians about political arrangements following the Gaza war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"swift-in-viewport\" style=\"text-align: justify;\">The PA, recognised by the West as the official representative of Palestinians, lost control of Gaza to Hamas in 2007. Washington has called for reforms to the PA as part of an overall solution to govern Palestinian Territories including Gaza after the war.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Israeli officials headed on Monday to Qatar, where the ruling Emir separately met the chief of Hamas, as the enemies in\u00a0the Gaza war\u00a0closed in on a\u00a0ceasefire-and-hostage deal\u00a0that Washington says is now within reach,\u00a0Reuters\u00a0reports. The presence of both sides for so-called proximity talks \u2013 meeting mediators separately while in the same city \u2013 suggested negotiations were [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41,1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-1698","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-middle-east","8":"category-uncategorized"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1698"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1698\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1700,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1698\/revisions\/1700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diplomatique.ma\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}