Israel tells negotiators to resume work on Gaza ceasefire
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given approval for a team of negotiators to be sent to discuss a hostage release deal with Hamas, a government official has said.
The development comes a day after Hamas responded to a Gaza ceasefire plan outlined by President Biden at the end of May.
The last indirect talks took place in Cairo in early May and efforts to get them back on track since then have made little progress, with the US putting the blame on Hamas.
The details of Hamas’s response have not been made public.
On Wednesday, Hamas’s political leadership said it had contacted mediators Egypt and Qatar “about the ideas” it said it had been discussing with the aim of reaching an agreement.
Up to now Hamas has demanded an end to the war and a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Israel says it will accept only temporary pauses in the fighting until it eliminates Hamas.
The war was triggered by Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7 October in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others back to Gaza as hostages.
At least 38,010 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza as a result of Israel’s offensive, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry.
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