Negotiations aimed at brokering a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza war appear to have stalled, days before an unofficial deadline of the beginning of Ramadan.
Two days of talks between Hamas and international mediators broke up in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, without any significant breakthroughs, Palestinian officials said, after Israel declined to send a delegation to the latest round of negotiations.
“[Benjamin] Netanyahu doesn’t want to reach an agreement” and “the ball now is in the Americans’ court” to press the Israeli prime minister to come back to the table, Basem Naim, the head of Hamas’s political division in Gaza, told reporters in text messages.
Israel, however, did not send a delegation to the second day of talks in Cairo as hoped, demanding that Hamas present a list of 40 elderly, sick and female hostages who would be the first to be released as part of a truce that would initially last six weeks, beginning with the month of Ramadan.
Hamas has demanded that large-scale humanitarian aid should be allowed into Gaza, and that Palestinians displaced from their homes in the north of the coastal territory be allowed to return
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Two days of talks between Hamas and international mediators broke up in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, without any significant breakthroughs, Palestinian officials said, after Israel declined to send a delegation to the latest round of negotiations.
“[Benjamin] Netanyahu doesn’t want to reach an agreement” and “the ball now is in the Americans’ court” to press the Israeli prime minister to come back to the table, Basem Naim, the head of Hamas’s political division in Gaza, told reporters in text messages.
Egyptian and Qatari mediators have over the last two days put pressure on Hamas to produce a list of hostages to be released as the first step in a phased ceasefire agreement with Israel, according to officials familiar with the talks.
Israel, however, did not send a delegation to the second day of talks in Cairo as hoped, demanding that Hamas present a list of 40 elderly, sick and female hostages who would be the first to be released as part of a truce that would initially last six weeks, beginning with the month of Ramadan.
Diplomatic sources in Washington said on Monday it was unclear what was stopping the Palestinian militant group from producing a list identifying the first batch of hostages, noting that similar uncertainties ended up collapsing the last successful truce in November after a week.
The US air force on Saturday began airdrops of aid in a joint operation with Jordanian planes, delivering a total of 38,000 meals, after an announcement from Biden the previous day.
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