Israel to send team to Doha as Hamas pushes for phase two of Gaza truce

GAZA CITY: Israel on Sunday prepared to send a delegation to Doha for further talks on the Gaza truce, as Hamas called for an immediate start to negotiations on the ceasefire’s second phase, which it hopes will lead to a permanent end to the war.

Representatives of the Palestinian militant group, met with mediators in Cairo over the weekend, stressing the urgent need for humanitarian aid to re-enter the besieged territory “without restrictions or conditions”, according to a Hamas statement.

“Hamas stresses the urgency of forcing the occupation to immediately begin second-phase negotiations under the agreed parameters,” senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Mardawi told AFP, adding that this would pave the way for a permanent end to the war.

Hamas’s key demands for the second phase include a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an end to the Israeli blockade, the reconstruction of the Palestinian territory and financial support, Mardawi said.

Following talks with mediators, Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanoua said indicators were so far “positive”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said it would send delegates to Doha on Monday, while the Israeli media reported that the government’s security cabinet would discuss the matter later on Sunday.

Israel says that it wants an extension of the truce’s first phase until mid-April.

That initial period ended on March 1 after six weeks of relative calm that included the exchange of 25 living hostages and eight bodies for the release of about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.

The truce largely halted more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza, where virtually the entire population was displaced by Israel’s relentless military campaign after Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack.

It also enabled the flow of vital food, shelter and medical assistance into Gaza.

After Israel cut off that flow again, UN rights experts accused it of “weaponising starvation”.

Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,453 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry. The UN considers these figures reliable.