The latest series of discussions on the second phase of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas has made no progress so far, and it was not clear if the talks would resume on Saturday, said a senior Hamas.
The first phase of the ceasefire, which interrupted 15 months of fighting in the Gaza Strip, saw the release of 33 hostages, including eight bodies, in exchange for nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners.
The first phase expires on Saturday, but in the words of the agreement, the fighting must not resume while negotiations are underway in the second phase, which could end the war in Gaza and see the remaining living hostages returned home.
Managers of Israel, Qatar, Egypt and the United States were involved in negotiations on the second phase of Cairo, in order to end the war with the return of all remaining living hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
Hamas did not attend talks, but its position was represented through Egyptian and Qatari mediators. Basem Naim, a member of the Hamas political bureau, told the Associated Press that there was “no progress” to find a solution before Israeli negotiators returned home on Friday.
It was not clear if these mediators were going to return to Cairo to resume discussions on Saturday as expected, and Naim said he had “no idea” when negotiations could start again.
Israeli officials and Hamas claim that the last dead end on the exchange of prisoners and hostage bodies was resolved by Egyptian mediators. The resolution in the Gaza ceasefire agreement occurred the same day as the funeral of the young Bibas family after the transfer of their bodies last week.
Hamas began war with its October 7, 2023, an attack that killed 1,200 people in Israel. Since then, the military offensive of Israel has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to the health officials of Gaza, who do not make the difference between civil deaths and combatants, but say that more than half of the dead have been women and children.
The two parties agreed with the cease-fire agreement in three phases in January, in order to end the war.
On Friday, Hamas said that it “reaffirms its total commitment to implement all the conditions of the agreement to all its stages and details” and called on the international community to put pressure on Israel to “pass immediately to the second phase without delay or escape”.
In addition to phase two of the ceasefire, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last week that mediators in talks “also discussed means of improving humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, as part of efforts to mitigate the suffering of population stability and support in the region.”
Hamas has rejected an Israeli proposal to extend the first phase of the 42-day ceasefire, saying that it was against the truce agreement, according to a member of the group who asked for anonymity to discuss closed negotiations.
The Israeli proposal calls for prolonging the ceasefire during the Ramadan Sacred Muslim month, which began on Saturday, in exchange for additional hostages, said the member of Hamas.
The United Nations Food Agency, the World Food Program, said in an article on social networks on Saturday that it had reached a million Palestinians in Gaza during the first phase of the agreement.
The break in the fighting helped “restore distribution points, reopen the bakeries and widen cash assistance,” said the agency.
“The ceasefire must hold,” he said. “There can be backwards.”
