Days after the negotiations seemed to be at a standstill, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has authorized a fresh round of ceasefire negotiations to be held in Doha and Cairo, his office announced on Friday.
Ever since the UN Security Council demanded a “immediate ceasefire” on Monday, Israel and Hamas have shifted the blame for their inability to reach an agreement.
The warring parties and the mediators haven’t provided much information since, but on Tuesday, mediator Qatar claimed that negotiations between Hamas and Israel on a Gaza truce and captive release were ongoing.
Netanyahu’s office said the premier spoke to Mossad chief David Barnea about the talks, but declined elaborate on whether Barnea would be travelling to Doha or Cairo for the negotiations.
The war began when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on Israel that resulted in about 1,160 deaths, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.
The health ministry of the Hamas-run region reports that 32,623 individuals have died in Gaza as a result of Israel’s military’s retaliatory attack against Hamas, the majority of them were women and children.
after the attack on Israel on October 7, Palestinian terrorists took over 250 Israeli and foreign captives; however, after a week-long truce in November, many of the hostages were freed.
About 130 people, including 33 presumed dead (eight troops and twenty-five civilians), are still in Gaza, according to Israeli estimates.
