Qatar claims slight progress in direction of ceasefire in Gaza

[ad_1] Sebastian Usher and Jessica Rawnsley BBC Information, Jerusalem and London

<img sizes="(min-width: 1280px) 50vw, (min-width: 1008px) 66vw, 96vw" srcset="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/240/cpsprodpb/5de5/live/15ff3f30-2384-11f0-9097-0766f10c626e.jpg.webp 240w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/320/cpsprodpb/5de5/live/15ff3f30-2384-11f0-9097-0766f10c626e.jpg.webp 320w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/5de5/live/15ff3f30-2384-11f0-9097-0766f10c626e.jpg.webp 480w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/640/cpsprodpb/5de5/live/15ff3f30-2384-11f0-9097-0766f10c626e.jpg.webp 640w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/800/cpsprodpb/5de5/live/15ff3f30-2384-11f0-9097-0766f10c626e.jpg.webp 800w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1024/cpsprodpb/5de5/live/15ff3f30-2384-11f0-9097-0766f10c626e.jpg.webp 1024w,https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/1536/cpsprodpb/5de5/live/15ff3f30-2384-11f0-9097-0766f10c626e.jpg.webp 1536w" src="https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/480/cpsprodpb/5de5/live/15ff3f30-2384-11f0-9097-0766f10c626e.jpg.webp" loading="eager" alt="Getty Images A plume of smoke rises over buildings after an Israeli airstrike in Gaza" class="sc-4abb68ca-0 ldLcJe"/> Getty Photos Israel's army offensive in Gaza resumed after a ceasefire collapsed in March

Qatar's prime minister says there was "a little bit of progress" in efforts to dealer a brand new ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, however that there was nonetheless no "reply for the final word query: methods to finish this warfare".

It follows his assembly with the top of Israel's spy company on Thursday.

Talking in Doha, Turkey's international minister Hakan Fidan stated that Hamas seemed to be extra receptive to negotiating an enduring resolution to the warfare.

After rejecting Israel's newest ceasefire provide greater than every week in the past, Hamas now appears set on an settlement that may see the discharge of all of the remaining hostages as a part of a deal to finish hostilities for not less than 5 years.

Hamas has steered it may contemplate disarming as a part of such a tradeoff, however provided that Israel had been to tug all its forces out of Gaza. The Israeli authorities seems to haven't any intention of doing this.

Israel imposed an entire blockade on Gaza in early March and resumed air and floor assaults later within the month.

The Hamas-run Gaza well being ministry says 2,151 Palestinians have been killed since then, together with 51 within the 24 hours into Sunday morning.

Preventing between Hamas and Israel has additionally intensified, with the Israeli army saying an Israeli soldier and a police officer had been killed on Friday.

On Thursday, Israel's Mossad spy company chief David Barnea met with Qatari PM Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha.

Sheik Mohammed stated that there had been "a little bit of progress in comparison with different conferences, but we have to discover a solution for the final word query: methods to finish this warfare".

Final week, Hamas rejected an Israeli proposal for a 45-day ceasefire that known as for the group's full disarmament and the discharge of 10 of the 59 remaining hostages.

Sheikh Mohammed stated that they had been "looking for a breakthrough" however added that Israel and Hamas remained at odds on what a ceasefire would entail.

He stated Hamas has agreed at hand over all of the remaining hostages in an trade to an finish to the warfare, however that Israel needs the hostages launched with out providing a imaginative and prescient on an finish to the battle.

"When you do not have a standard goal, a standard aim, between the events, I consider the alternatives [to end the war] change into very skinny," Sheik Mohammed stated at a press convention in Doha.

A Hamas delegation held talks with Egyptian officers in Cairo on Saturday which reportedly centered on a ceasefire settlement and addressing the humanitarian disaster in Gaza.

A Palestinian official aware of negotiations advised the BBC that Hamas has signalled its readiness at hand over governance of Gaza to any Palestinian entity agreed upon "on the nationwide and regional stage". The official stated this could possibly be the West Financial institution-based Palestinian Authority (PA) or a newly shaped administrative physique.

The US has additionally inspired the thought of a reformed PA governing Gaza after the warfare.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has dominated out any position for the PA in Gaza and has stated he opposes the formation of a Palestinian state.

On Saturday, PA President Mahmoud Abbas named shut confidant Hussein al-Sheikh as his deputy within the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), the PLO stated.

Abbas, 89, has led the PLO and PA since 2004 however has beforehand resisted inside reforms, together with naming a successor.

The PA's management has often insisted it is able to take over operating post-war Gaza. But it surely has been criticised by Palestinians for not talking out sufficient or taking efficient motion.

In a fiery speech throughout a gathering of the Palestinian Central Council in Ramallah on Wednesday, Abbas lashed out at Hamas, calling the group "sons of canine" and demanding they launch the hostages, disarm and hand over management of Gaza.

Hamas and Abbas's Fatah organisation, which dominates the PA, have been bitterly divided for many years, with their rift guaranteeing that no unified Palestinian management in each the West Financial institution and Gaza has been capable of emerge.

On Sunday, the Hamas-run well being ministry in Gaza introduced that the deal toll from the warfare had risen to not less than 52,243 individuals, after taking account of a whole lot of people listed as lacking whose deaths have now been confirmed.

"A further 697 martyrs have been added to the cumulative statistics after their information was accomplished and verified by the committee monitoring lacking individuals," the well being ministry stated.

The ministry had earlier denied that it had manipulated dying toll figures after media experiences highlighted anomalies between the August and October 2024 and March 2025 lists of fatalities.

Final week the UN World Meals Programme has warned that every one of its meals shares in Gaza have run out on account of the Israeli blockade.

The UN says Israel is obliged below worldwide legislation to make sure provides for the two.1 million Palestinians in Gaza. Israel says it's complying with worldwide legislation and there's no help scarcity.

In the course of the press convention in Doha, Sheikh Mohammed condemned what he described as Israel's "hunger" coverage.

The warfare started on 7 October 2023 when Hamas carried out a cross-border assault, killing round 1,200 individuals and seizing 251 hostages based on Israeli tallies.