Gaza ceasefire talks hit deadlock

Mediators initially focused on the Israeli position after the arrival of spy chiefs from Israel, the United States and Egypt in the Qatari capital on Thursday. According to several people briefed on the talks, Hamas representatives were not present but would be engaged by mediators after the summit ended.

“This has been customary since negotiations began with the mediators,” one source said.

The US administration, led by President Joe Biden, has tried to strike a positive tone about the negotiations, with National Security Council spokesman John Kirby saying on Thursday that “we have already closed some gaps”.

“The remaining obstacles can be overcome, and we need to bring this process to a close. We need to see the hostages released, relief for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, security for Israel, and a reduction in tensions in the region,” Kirby added.

However, it remains unclear how much Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to compromise on several additional demands he has put forward in recent weeks.

According to sources briefed on the negotiations, the main sticking points include his insistence that Israel will not withdraw from the Gaza-Egypt border area known as the Philadelphia corridor, nor allow the free and “uncontrolled” movement of displaced Palestinians back to the northern strip.

Netanyahu insists he has not added new conditions, blaming Hamas for the impasse. The longtime Israeli leader has rejected any permanent end to the war, saying he would only agree to an initial six-week truce. On Thursday, he reiterated that Israeli forces would not leave the Philadelphia corridor as part of any deal.

Hamas, for its part, has backed away from its longstanding demand that a deal guarantee a complete end to the war from the outset, people familiar with the negotiations said. On Thursday, Husam Badran, a senior Hamas official, said the group had demanded that “any negotiations must be based on a clear plan to implement what was previously agreed upon.”

“Any agreement must achieve a comprehensive ceasefire, a complete withdrawal from Gaza, the return of displaced people and reconstruction, and a prisoner exchange agreement,” he added in a statement.

The stakes of a potential deal for Gaza, where local health officials said Thursday the war has killed 40,000 people, have risen sharply after the back-to-back assassinations last month of two senior Iran-backed militant leaders, raising fears of a regional escalation.

Fuad Shukr, a senior commander in the Lebanon-based Hezbollah movement, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, while Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh was killed in Tehran hours later. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for Haniyeh’s assassination, but Iran and Hezbollah have vowed “severe punishment” against the Jewish state.

The United States and its allies believe that a ceasefire and a halt to the war in Gaza is the most realistic path to ending the cycle of regional hostilities it has triggered. British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné are due to travel to Israel on Friday (16) to stress that “there is no time for delays or excuses from all parties to a ceasefire agreement,” a joint statement said.

“The UK and France are united in our call for a diplomatic solution to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and restore calm along the Israeli-Lebanese border,” they added.

The talks continued as tensions rose in the occupied West Bank, where a Palestinian was shot dead on Thursday night after dozens of Israeli settlers stormed the village of Jit, attacking residents and setting homes on fire. Another Palestinian was seriously wounded, also by live fire, according to Palestinian health officials and eyewitnesses.

Netanyahu condemned the attack, saying he viewed the “riots” with the “utmost gravity.” “These are the [Forças de Defesa de Israel] and the security forces fighting terrorism, and no one else,” he added, promising that those responsible would be “apprehended and tried.” No one had been arrested as of midday Friday (16).

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said the incident was a “terrible moral low” that “has nothing to do with Judaism.”

Jack Lew, the US ambassador to Israel, wrote in X on Friday (16) that he was “horrified” by the attacks and that they “must stop and the perpetrators must be held accountable.”

With information from the Financial Times and Al Jazeera