GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories: Hamas confirmed on Thursday that it has responded to an Israeli proposal for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza, after more than two weeks of indirect talks in Qatar have failed to yield a truce.
“Hamas has just submitted its response and that of the Palestinian factions to the ceasefire proposal to the mediators,” the Palestinian militant group said in a statement on Telegram.
The response included proposed amendments to clauses on the entry of aid, maps of areas from which the Israeli army should withdraw, and guarantees on securing a permanent end to the war, according to a Palestinian source familiar with ongoing talks in Doha.
Negotiators from both sides have been holding indirect talks in Doha with mediators in an attempt to reach an agreement on a truce deal that would see the release of Israeli hostages.
Of the 251 hostages taken during Hamas’s 2023 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
But the talks have dragged on for more than two weeks without a breakthrough, with each side blaming the other for refusing to budge on their key demands.
For Israel, dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities is non-negotiable, while Hamas demands firm guarantees on a lasting truce, a full withdrawal of Israeli troops and the free flow of aid into Gaza.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer on Wednesday accused Hamas of obstructing talks.
“Israel has agreed to the Qatari proposal and the updated (US special envoy Steve) Witkoff proposal, it is Hamas that is refusing,” Mencer told reporters, adding that Israel’s negotiating team was still in Doha and talks were ongoing.
The United States said Witkoff will head to Europe this week for talks on a possible ceasefire and an aid corridor.
More than 100 aid organizations warned on Wednesday that “mass starvation” was spreading in Gaza.
Hamas confirms it responded to latest Gaza truce proposal
https://arab.news/jzt36
Hamas confirms it responded to latest Gaza truce proposal
- Negotiators from both sides have been holding indirect talks in Doha with mediators
‘Not your war’: Omani FM on US and Israel undermining ‘active and serious negotiations’
- On Friday, Albusaidi appeared on US news show “Face The Nation” and said a peace deal between Iran and the US was “within our reach”
LONDON: Oman’s Foreign Minister Badr Albusaidi, who was leading indirect negotiations between Iran and the US in Geneva this week, tweeted his dismay at the attacks on Tehran this morning by the US and Israel.
“I am dismayed. Active and serious negotiations have yet again been undermined. Neither the interests of the United States nor the cause of global peace are well served by this,” Albusaidi wrote. “And I pray for the innocents who will suffer. I urge the United States not to get sucked in further. This is not your war.”
On Friday, Albusaidi appeared on US news show “Face The Nation” and said a peace deal between Iran and the US was “within our reach.” He also said, “I don’t think any alternative to diplomacy is going to solve this problem.”
An agreement to irreversibly halt nuclear stockpiling and enrichment was reached, according to Abdusaidi — a feat never before achieved, and one of US President Donald Trump’s most important demands.
“Iran will never, ever have a nuclear material that will create a bomb. This is, I think, a big achievement. This is something that is not in the old deal that was negotiated during President Obama’s time,” the foreign minister said.
“They will not be able to actually accumulate the material that would enable them to create a bomb … So there would be zero accumulation, zero stockpiling and full verification.”
Early on Saturday, the US and Israel launched coordinated military strikes against multiple targets inside Iran, marking a dramatic escalation in Middle East tensions. The operation — described by US officials as “major combat operations” — involved air and missile strikes on key Iranian military and government infrastructure, including areas in and around Tehran.
Trump framed the action as an effort to degrade Iran’s missile and nuclear capabilities and to remove what he described as “an imminent threat” to regional and global security.
