Doha Negotiations on Ceasefire in the Gaza Strip Continue
Gazans Mourning the victims of the israeli agression, Aug 2024 Photo: @abbaleksandr
August 16, 2024 Hour: 4:58 pm
Hamas representatives do not participate in the negotiations, protesting against the assassination by Israel of its main negotiator.
Teams of mediators from the US, Qatar and Egypt and an Israeli delegation continued on Friday in Doha negotiations for a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, which Washington said had “started off well”.
Related:
Hamas Accuses Israel of Wanting to Involve the U.S. In Confrontation With Iran
The news comes as the number of Palestinians killed in the Zionist escalation against Gaza has already exceeded 40,000.
An agreement is seen as key to preventing the ten-month conflict from turning into a full regional war involving Iran and other countries and organizations, but expectations of progress are low.
White House spokesman John Kirby said that “there is still a lot of work to be done” in order to close the gaps in the implementation of the framework agreement.
Hamas has said it will not participate in the indirect negotiations of Doha for the time being, although mediators are said to be passing messages to officials of the group based there.
It has also called for a road map based on a proposal outlined by US President Joe Biden and accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of adding new conditions, which he has denied.
The mediators are facing a number of potential hot spots, such as control of territory along the Gaza-Egypt border and the return of displaced Palestinian civilians north of Gaza.
The talks were suspended after Ismail Haniyeh, the political leader and chief negotiator for Hamas, was assassinated in Tehran by Israel at the end of July. Iran has promised to retaliate against Tel Aviv, which has neither confirmed nor denied its involvement, leading to fears of further escalation.
The first phase of the agreement proposed by US President Biden at the end of May would include a six-week “total and complete ceasefire”, The withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas in Gaza and the exchange of some of the hostages, including women, elderly and sick or wounded, for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
The second phase would involve the release of all other living hostages and a “permanent cessation of hostilities”. In the third phase, a major reconstruction plan for Gaza would be launched and the remains of the hostages returned.
Gaza’s health ministry said on Thursday that at least 40,005 people have been killed in the territory since then, a figure which the UN human rights chief described as a “gloomy milestone for the world”.
Autor: OSG
Fuente: EFE
