Hamas reports no progress in talks on second phase

[Pelican Press 0]

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****** reports no progress in talks on second phase

The latest round of talks on a second phase of the ceasefire between Israel and ****** has made “no progress” and it is unclear when they will resume, a senior ****** official says.

Phase one expires on Saturday but under the deal’s terms, fighting should not resume while negotiations are underway on phase two, which could end the war in the Gaza Strip, result in Israeli troops withdrawing and allow the remaining living hostages to return home.

According to Israel, 32 of the 59 hostages still in the Gaza Strip are dead.

The first phase, which paused 15 months of fighting in the ************ enclave, featured the release of 33 hostages, including eight bodies, in exchange for nearly 2000 ************ prisoners.

Hundreds of thousands of people returned home to the north of the Gaza Strip, aid into the territory increased and Israeli forces withdrew to buffer zones.

Officials from Israel, Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been involved in negotiations on the second phase in Cairo.

****** did not attend but its position has been represented through Egyptian and Qatari mediators.

Basem Naim, a member of ******’ political bureau, told the Associated Press there had been “no progress” before Israeli negotiators returned home on Friday.

It was unclear whether those mediators would return to Cairo to resume talks on Saturday as expected.

Naim said he had “no idea” when negotiations might resume.

****** started the war with its October 7, 2023, attack that left 1200 dead in Israel, mostly civilians, and took 250 hostage.

Since then, Israel’s military offensive has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials, who do not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths but say more than half the dead have been women and children.

The two sides agreed to the three-phase ceasefire deal in January.

Israeli groups rallied on Saturday night to urge their government to continue the deal.

****** has reaffirmed its “full commitment to implementing all terms of the agreement in all its stages and details” and called on the international community to pressure Israel to immediately proceed to the second phase.

Other challenges complicate the ceasefire’s future.

Israel has said ****** cannot be involved in governing the Gaza Strip after the war.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has also ruled out any role in the Gaza Strip for the foreign-backed ************ Authority, dominated by ******’ main rival ******.

****** leader Mohamed Darwish on Saturday reiterated the group is willing to hand over power to a ************ national consensus government or an Egypt-proposed body of technocrats not aligned with ****** or ******.

His comments came in an open letter to next week’s summit of Arab leaders in Cairo.

****** has dismissed Israel’s suggestion that its leadership go into exile.

****** also rejected an Israeli proposal to extend the ceasefire’s first phase by 42 days, doubling its length, saying it goes against the truce agreement, according to a member of the group who requested anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations.

The Israeli proposal calls for extending the ceasefire through the ******* holy month of Ramadan, which started on Saturday, in return for an additional hostage exchange, the ****** member said.

****** published video footage on Saturday showing a group of hostages, including two brothers embracing before one of them was released.

The video, filmed under duress, was likely taken before February 15, when Iair ***** was released and left his brother, Eitan, behind.

The faces of what appear to be other hostages are blurred.

“I am very happy that my brother will be released tomorrow but this is not logical in any way to separate families,” Eitan says.

“Sign the second and third phase. Enough of war.”

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