Talks on a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip are expected to resume this week, with several officials saying the devastation caused by Israel’s nine-month offensive likely helped push Hamas to soften its demands.
Hamas over the weekend appeared to drop its longstanding demand that Israel promise to end the war as part of any cease-fire deal. The sudden shift has raised new hopes for progress in the internationally brokered negotiations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday boasted that military pressure — including Israel’s ongoing two-month offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah — “is what has led Hamas to enter negotiations.”
Netanyahu’s office said a team of Israeli negotiators will resume talks this week on a cease-fire with Hamas which had been stalled for weeks, signaling progress toward a deal to end the war in Gaza. But it said “there are still gaps between the parties.”
Hamas wants an agreement that ensures Israeli troops fully leave Gaza and that the war ends, while Israel says it cannot halt the war before the Palestinian militant group is eliminated. Postwar governance and security control of the enclave have also been contentious issues.
Israel launched the war in Gaza after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, in which militants stormed into southern Israel, killed some 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducted about 250.
Since then, Israeli ground offensives and bombardments have killed more than 38,000 people in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count.
The war has caused massive devastation across the besieged territory and displaced most of its 2.3 million people, often multiple times. Israeli restrictions, ongoing fighting and the breakdown of law and order have curtailed humanitarian aid efforts, causing widespread hunger and sparking fears of famine. The top U.N. court has concluded there is a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza — a charge Israel strongly denies.
Currently:
— Gaza destruction likely helped push Hamas to soften cease-fire demands, several officials say.
— Rafah is a dusty, rubble-strewn ghost town 2 months after Israel invaded to root out Hamas.
— Gaza soccer stadium is now a shelter for thousands of displaced Palestinians.
— A look at how settlements have grown in the West Bank over the years.
— Reformist Pezeshkian beats hard-liner to win Iran presidential election, promising outreach to West.
— Follow news agencies’s coverage of the war in Gaza at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
Here’s the latest:
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Several officials in the Middle East and the U.S. believe the level of devastation in the Gaza Strip caused by a nine-month Israeli offensive likely has helped push Hamas to soften its demands for a cease-fire agreement.
Hamas over the weekend appeared to drop its longstanding demand that Israel promise to end the war as part of any cease-fire deal. The sudden shift has raised new hopes for progress in internationally brokered negotiations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday boasted that military pressure — including Israel’s ongoing two-month offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah — “is what has led Hamas to enter negotiations.”
Netanyahu’s office said a team of Israeli negotiators will resume talks this week on a cease-fire with Hamas, signaling progress toward a deal to end the war in Gaza. It said Friday that negotiators will emphasize to U.S., Qatari and Egyptian mediators that “there are still gaps between the parties” during the talks in Doha, Qatar’s capital.
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