CAIRO/JERUSALEM: An Israeli delegation arrived in Qatar on Sunday for more Gaza truce talks, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s spokesperson said, as its military withdrew from an important crossing point in the enclave, as agreed under the truce with Hamas.
Indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas on the next stage of the ceasefire are set to start this week following Netanyahu’s visit to the United States last week.
However, a source in Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli delegation at this point will only discuss technical issues, rather than the bigger matters which are supposed to be hammered out, including the administration of post-war Gaza.
Last week, US President Donald Trump made a surprise call for Palestinians to be displaced from Gaza and for the enclave to come under the ownership of the US, which would rebuild it.
US officials have since walked back some of Trump’s remarks, saying Palestinians could return to Gaza once it was cleared of unexploded ordnance and rebuilt.
Still, Trump’s plan was widely panned with some critics saying it amounted to “ethnic cleansing.” Israeli officials have welcomed it.
Netanyahu’s security cabinet was scheduled to discuss Trump’s proposal, as well as the second stage of the ceasefire, on Tuesday, the source in his office said.
The first stage of the ceasefire which began on January 19 is meant to last six weeks and includes the release by Hamas of 33 Israeli hostages in return for Israel freeing almost 2,000 Palestinian detainees and prisoners from its jails.
Images of three hostages freed on Saturday, looking gaunt and weak, shocked Israelis. “Yesterday we got our father back. He lost much of his weight but not his spirit,” said Yulie Ben Ami, whose father Ohad was freed. “He survived hell.”
Withdrawal
Washington, Qatar and Egypt mediated the ceasefire, which has largely held. In keeping with the deal, on Sunday the Israeli military completed its withdrawal from its remaining positions in the Netzarim Corridor, which bisects Gaza.
Crowds of people were seen traversing the corridor as Hamas announced the Israeli withdrawal, while a long line of cars waited to pass through. An Israeli security source confirmed the military was leaving its positions there.
The Hamas-run police force deployed to the area to manage the flow Palestinians crossing through and Reuters footage showed what appeared to be Israeli military vehicles moving away from the coast and toward the Israeli border.
Hamas military and police forces have increased their public presence since January’s ceasefire, in what analysts say is an intentional message that the group has not been defeated.
Former American soldiers employed as private contractors have been deployed to inspect vehicles passing through the corridor in recent weeks following the ceasefire agreement that was implemented on January 19 after more than 15 months of war.
Israel had occupied the roughly 4 mile-long (6km) corridor south of Gaza City that stretches from the Israeli border to the Mediterranean Sea.
The corridor cut off Gaza’s northern communities, including its largest metropolitan area, from the south.
Thousands of Palestinians have streamed through the corridor in recent weeks, returning to their homes in the north from southern Gaza where they had sought shelter from the war.
Much of northern Gaza has become a wasteland following Israel’s devastating campaign. After finding their homes destroyed, some Gazans have gone back to the south, while others have set up tents where their homes once stood.
Israel vowed to destroy Hamas for its October 2023 attack in which 1,200 people were killed, most of them civilians, and 251 taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies.
More than 48,000 people have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory assault, according to Palestinian health authorities, most of them civilians.
Gazan medics said that on Sunday four Palestinians, including an elderly woman, had been killed by Israeli gunfire in two separate incidents near Khan Yunis and in Gaza City.
The Israeli military said soldiers had fired warning shots at “several suspects” and that “several hits were identified,” when asked about the Gaza City incident where medics said three Palestinians had been killed and five wounded. The military was not aware of the incident where the woman was allegedly killed.
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Israeli delegation in Qatar for Gaza ceasefire talks
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Israeli delegation in Qatar for Gaza ceasefire talks
- Netanyahu’s security cabinet was scheduled to discuss Trump’s proposal, as well as the second stage of the ceasefire, on Tuesday, the source in his office said
Syria, Kurdish forces race to save integration deal ahead of deadline
AMMAN/RIYADH/BEIRUT/ANKARA: Syrian, Kurdish and US officials are scrambling ahead of a year-end deadline to show some progress in a stalled deal to merge Kurdish forces with the Syrian state, according to several people involved in or familiar with the talks.
Discussions have accelerated in recent days despite growing frustrations over delays, according to the Syrian, Kurdish and Western sources who spoke to Reuters, some of whom cautioned that a major breakthrough was unlikely.
The interim Syrian government has sent a proposal to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that controls the country’s northeast, according to five of the sources.
In it, Damascus expressed openness to the SDF reorganizing its roughly 50,000 fighters into three main divisions and smaller brigades as long as it cedes some chains of command and opens its territory to other Syrian army units, according to one Syrian, one Western and three Kurdish officials.
’SAVE FACE’ AND EXTEND TALKS ON INTEGRATION
It was unclear whether the idea would move forward, and several sources downplayed prospects of a comprehensive eleventh-hour deal, saying more talks are needed. Still, one SDF official said: “We are closer to a deal than ever before.”
A second Western official said that any announcement in coming days would be meant in part to “save face,” extend the deadline and maintain stability in a nation that remains fragile a year after the fall of former President Bashar Assad.
Whatever emerges was expected to fall short of the SDF’s full integration into the military and other state institutions by year-end, as was called for in a landmark March 10 agreement between the sides, most of the sources said.
Failure to mend Syria’s deepest remaining fracture risks an armed clash that could derail its emergence from 14 years of war, and potentially draw in neighboring Turkiye that has threatened an incursion against Kurdish fighters it views as terrorists.
Both sides have accused the other of stalling and acting in bad faith. The SDF is reluctant to give up autonomy it won as the main US ally during the war, after which it controlled Islamic State prisons and rich oil resources.
The US, which backs Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and has urged global support for his interim government, has relayed messages between the SDF and Damascus, facilitated talks and urged a deal, several sources said.
A US State Department spokesperson said Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy to Syria, continued to support and facilitate dialogue between the Syrian government and the SDF, saying the aim was to maintain momentum toward integration of the forces.
SDF DOWNPLAYS DEADLINE; TURKEY SAYS PATIENCE THIN
Since a major round of talks in the summer between the sides failed to produce results, frictions have mounted including frequent skirmishes along several front lines across the north.
The SDF took control of much of northeast Syria, where most of the nation’s oil and wheat production is, after defeating Daesh militants in 2019.
It said it was ending decades of repression against the Kurdish minority but resentment against its rule has grown among the predominantly Arab population, including against compulsory conscription of young men.
A Syrian official said the year-end deadline for integration is firm and only “irreversible steps” by the SDF could bring an extension.
Turkiye’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, said on Thursday it does not want to resort to military means but warned that patience with the SDF is “running out.”
Kurdish officials have downplayed the deadline and said they are committed to talks toward a just integration.
“The most reliable guarantee for the agreement’s continued validity lies in its content, not timeframe,” said Sihanouk Dibo, a Syrian autonomous administration official, suggesting it could take until mid-2026 to address all points in the deal.
The SDF had in October floated the idea of reorganizing into three geographical divisions as well as the brigades. It is unclear whether that concession, in the proposal from Damascus in recent days, would be enough to convince it to give up territorial control.
Abdel Karim Omar, representative of the Kurdish-led northeastern administration in Damascus, said the proposal, which has not been made public, included “logistical and administrative details that could cause disagreement and lead to delays.”
A senior Syrian official told Reuters the response “has flexibility to facilitate reaching an agreement that implements the March accord.”
Discussions have accelerated in recent days despite growing frustrations over delays, according to the Syrian, Kurdish and Western sources who spoke to Reuters, some of whom cautioned that a major breakthrough was unlikely.
The interim Syrian government has sent a proposal to the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) that controls the country’s northeast, according to five of the sources.
In it, Damascus expressed openness to the SDF reorganizing its roughly 50,000 fighters into three main divisions and smaller brigades as long as it cedes some chains of command and opens its territory to other Syrian army units, according to one Syrian, one Western and three Kurdish officials.
’SAVE FACE’ AND EXTEND TALKS ON INTEGRATION
It was unclear whether the idea would move forward, and several sources downplayed prospects of a comprehensive eleventh-hour deal, saying more talks are needed. Still, one SDF official said: “We are closer to a deal than ever before.”
A second Western official said that any announcement in coming days would be meant in part to “save face,” extend the deadline and maintain stability in a nation that remains fragile a year after the fall of former President Bashar Assad.
Whatever emerges was expected to fall short of the SDF’s full integration into the military and other state institutions by year-end, as was called for in a landmark March 10 agreement between the sides, most of the sources said.
Failure to mend Syria’s deepest remaining fracture risks an armed clash that could derail its emergence from 14 years of war, and potentially draw in neighboring Turkiye that has threatened an incursion against Kurdish fighters it views as terrorists.
Both sides have accused the other of stalling and acting in bad faith. The SDF is reluctant to give up autonomy it won as the main US ally during the war, after which it controlled Islamic State prisons and rich oil resources.
The US, which backs Syrian President Ahmed Al-Sharaa and has urged global support for his interim government, has relayed messages between the SDF and Damascus, facilitated talks and urged a deal, several sources said.
A US State Department spokesperson said Tom Barrack, the US ambassador to Turkiye and special envoy to Syria, continued to support and facilitate dialogue between the Syrian government and the SDF, saying the aim was to maintain momentum toward integration of the forces.
SDF DOWNPLAYS DEADLINE; TURKEY SAYS PATIENCE THIN
Since a major round of talks in the summer between the sides failed to produce results, frictions have mounted including frequent skirmishes along several front lines across the north.
The SDF took control of much of northeast Syria, where most of the nation’s oil and wheat production is, after defeating Daesh militants in 2019.
It said it was ending decades of repression against the Kurdish minority but resentment against its rule has grown among the predominantly Arab population, including against compulsory conscription of young men.
A Syrian official said the year-end deadline for integration is firm and only “irreversible steps” by the SDF could bring an extension.
Turkiye’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, said on Thursday it does not want to resort to military means but warned that patience with the SDF is “running out.”
Kurdish officials have downplayed the deadline and said they are committed to talks toward a just integration.
“The most reliable guarantee for the agreement’s continued validity lies in its content, not timeframe,” said Sihanouk Dibo, a Syrian autonomous administration official, suggesting it could take until mid-2026 to address all points in the deal.
The SDF had in October floated the idea of reorganizing into three geographical divisions as well as the brigades. It is unclear whether that concession, in the proposal from Damascus in recent days, would be enough to convince it to give up territorial control.
Abdel Karim Omar, representative of the Kurdish-led northeastern administration in Damascus, said the proposal, which has not been made public, included “logistical and administrative details that could cause disagreement and lead to delays.”
A senior Syrian official told Reuters the response “has flexibility to facilitate reaching an agreement that implements the March accord.”
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