There is “no progress” toward a deal in Gaza, a Hamas source tells Newsweek, despite President Donald Trump insisting U.S.-mediated ceasefire discussions between Hamas and Israel were “going along very well.”
Renewed negotiations kicked off over the weekend in Doha, with mediators speaking separately to the Palestinian militant group and Israeli officials.
The first stage of a U.S-brokered ceasefire deal — agreed in January — fell apart in March, as negotiators failed to nail down a next phase and the Israeli military resumed its offensive in Gaza. The U.S., Qatar and Egypt have been steering renewed talks.
Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said on Tuesday it was “too early” to offer any impressions on the progress of the negotiations. Israeli sources have indicated time would be needed to shuffle toward an accord.
Trump has struck a far more optimistic tone, saying as recently as Sunday that there was a “good chance” of reaching a hostage deal in the coming days, after months of fruitless talks and stalled progress.
“I think we’re close to a deal on Gaza—we could have it this week,” Trump told reporters as he headed to Washington on Sunday. In fresh remarks on Monday, the president said Hamas officials “want to have that ceasefire.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, departing Israel for the U.S. on Sunday, said he had “dispatched a team to the negotiations with clear instructions.” An unnamed Palestinian official told the BBC the “Israeli delegation simply came to listen and has no real mandate to negotiate.”
“We are working to achieve the much discussed deal, on the conditions that we have agreed to,” Netanyahu told reporters.
Trump said on July 1 Israel had agreed to “the necessary conditions” for finalizing a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza after a “long and productive meeting” with U.S. officials.
Hamas said later in the week it had returned a “positive” response to the latest iteration of a hostage deal and ceasefire proposal. Netanyahu’s office then said on Saturday Hamas had requested “unacceptable” changes to the proposal formulated by Qatar.
The Hamas source told Newsweek that Israel wished to keep in place the current system for distributing humanitarian aid in the besieged Strip.
The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a controversial U.S.-backed aid distribution initiative supported by Israel, is currently the primary method for Palestinians in devastated Gaza to access supplies in designated spots after Israel lifted its aid blockade in mid-May.
But the GHF program has drawn massive crowds to its aid distribution sites, which Israeli troops have fired on multiple times, according to witnesses, humanitarian groups and visual evidence published by the Washington Post. The United Nations has said at least 613 Palestinians have been killed close to the foundation’s sites or around humanitarian convoys.
The Associated Press reported on Sunday that the document submitted by mediators to Hamas outlined a 60-day ceasefire proposal, during which Israel would pull back to a buffer zone on the Gaza border with Israel and Egypt. Aid would pour into Gaza as Hamas turned over 10 living and 18 deceased hostages to Israel, according to the report.
The Hamas source said Israel wants to retain control of the Morag axis, a strip of land between the southern Gazan cities of Rafah and Khan Younis.
Israel has not offered a guarantee that the war would end after 60 days, the source said. That has been a sticking point for Hamas negotiators.
Netanyahu has long maintained Israel needs “complete victory” over the Palestinian group before stopping the war.
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