Gaza mediator Qatar said Tuesday that it was ‘still waiting’ for Israel’s response to a proposal for a truce and hostage release deal in the Palestinian territory after Hamas agreed to the framework more than a week ago.
Qatar and Egypt, along with the United States, have been mediating indirect ceasefire negotiations throughout the Gaza war, but despite sealing two temporary truces, the successive rounds of talks have repeatedly failed to bring a lasting end to the conflict.
The latest proposal put forward by mediators involves an initial 60-day truce and staggered exchanges of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, but Israel has appeared reluctant to budge from its demand that all the hostages being held at Gaza be freed at once.
‘We are still waiting for an answer’ from Israel, Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told a regular news conference on Tuesday, adding: ‘The statements that we are hearing right now do not fill us with confidence.’
Last week, Hamas said it had accepted the new ceasefire proposal following a round of talks in Cairo.
The proposal followed the contours of a deal first proposed by US envoy Steve Witkoff, with Qatar saying it hewed closely to a version previously approved by Israel.
However, as mediators were awaiting Israel’s response to the new proposal last week, prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he had given instructions for new negotiations seeking ‘the release of all our hostages and the end of the war under conditions acceptable to Israel’.
In the same remarks, Netanyahu doubled down on plans for the Israeli army to launch a new offensive to capture Gaza City.
Ansari on Tuesday said mediators did not ‘take seriously’ any announcements outside the negotiation process itself.
‘The responsibility now lies on the Israeli side to respond to an offer that is on the table. Anything else is political posturing by the Israeli side,’ he said.
Referring to the Gaza City offensive, he added that Qatar did not see a ‘positive trajectory coming out of this escalation on the ground’.
Meanwhile, protesters demanding an end to the Gaza war and the return of hostages to their homes took to the streets in Israel on Tuesday ahead of a security cabinet meeting.
Demonstrators blocked roads in commercial hub Tel Aviv, where they waved Israeli flags and held up pictures of the hostages, AFP journalists reported.
Israeli media said others rallied near the US embassy branch in the city, as well as outside the houses of various ministers.
‘Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu prioritises the destruction of Hamas over releasing the hostages,’ said Ruby Chen, whose son was abducted by militants in October 2023.
‘He believes it is OK and it is a valid alternative to sacrifice 50 hostages for political needs,’ he said in a speech to one of Tuesday’s demonstrations.
Protests were expected to swell in Tel Aviv later in the day.
The agenda of the security cabinet meeting has not been officially confirmed, but Israeli media reported that it could be to discuss on-going negotiations for a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
The cabinet approved a plan in early August for the military to take over Gaza City, triggering fresh fears for the safety of the hostages and a new wave of protests that has seen tens of thousands take to the streets.
Israel has been under mounting pressure both at home and abroad to wrap up its campaign in Gaza, where the war has created a humanitarian crisis and devastated much of the territory.
On Monday, Israeli strikes hit a Gaza hospital, killing at least 20 people, including five journalists working for Al Jazeera, the Associated Press and Reuters, among other outlets.
Governments around the world, including staunch Israeli allies, expressed shock at the attack.
Netanyahu later expressed regret over what he called a ‘tragic mishap’, and the Israeli military ordered an inquiry.
The war in Gaza has been one of the deadliest for journalists, with around 200 media workers killed in the Israeli assault now in its 23rd month, according to press watchdogs.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s October 2023 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.
Out of 251 hostages seized during the attack, 49 are still held in Gaza including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 62,819 Palestinians, most of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza that the United Nations considers reliable.
