Israel and Hamas have indicated they are both ready to push ahead with a new round of ceasefire negotiations.
Hamas said there are “positive indicators” for new talks, while Israel has said it will send a delegation to Qatar on Monday to lay the groundwork for a new ceasefire to extend the truce that began in January.
“We affirm our readiness to engage in the second-phase negotiations in a way that meets the demands of our people, and we call for intensified efforts to aid the Gaza Strip and lift the blockade on our suffering people,” Hamas spokesman, Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua, said in a statement from Cairo, where Hamas representatives have been meeting with Egyptian mediators.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, “Israel has accepted the invitation of the mediators backed by the US, and will send a delegation to Doha on Monday in an effort to advance the negotiations.”
Israeli airstrikes have continued over Gaza. On Friday, an Israeli drone strike killed two people. The Israeli military said it attacked a group of suspected militants who were planting an explosive device near Israeli troops.
The ceasefire deal negotiated in January calls for the remaining 59 hostages held by Hamas to be released in a second phase, as part of which a final plan would be negotiated to bring to an end the war.
Since the first phase of the ceasefire ended last week, Israel has imposed a full blockade on all goods entering Gaza and demanded the return of all remaining hostages.
Hamas has so far released 33 Israeli hostages and five Thai citizens in exchange for around 2,000 Palestinian captives.
The war in Gaza began after Hamas fighters raided southern Israel on 7 October 2023, killing over a thousand people and taking more than 250 hostages. In response, Israel launched a wide-ranging assault on the territory, which is reckoned to have claimed nearly 50,000 lives.