Gaza ceasefire talks suspended, planned to resume next week

Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha were suspended on Friday and negotiators are due to meet again next week to seek a deal to end fighting between Israel and Hamas and release remaining hostages, but U.S. President Joe Biden said “we’re not there yet.”

The United States, Qatar and Egypt said in a joint statement that Washington had put forward a new proposal over the past week that built on consensus and narrowed differences so that a deal could be implemented quickly. They said mediators would continue to work on the proposal.

“A path has now been set to achieve this outcome, one that saves lives, brings relief to the people of Gaza and reduces tensions in the region,” they said in a statement.

Israel on Thursday began the latest round of talks with mediators to end the Gaza war that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. The Palestinian militant group Hamas is not directly involved but has been briefed on the talks.

Senior Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq told Reuters that Israel “did not abide by what was agreed in previous negotiations,” citing the mediator’s statement.

In Washington, Biden said a deal was “much closer” than before the talks began. A senior administration official said recent negotiations were the most productive in months and that negotiators would reconvene in Cairo next week in hopes of reaching a deal.

“There was a consensus among all participants over the last 48 hours that there is really a new spirit here that can move the negotiations toward a fruitful outcome,” the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. “The Israeli team that came to the negotiations was empowered … and we made a lot of progress on many of the issues we were dealing with,” the official said.

Biden said in a statement that he had directed his negotiating team to deliver the comprehensive transition proposal presented on Friday, which he said provided the basis for an eventual ceasefire and hostage release deal.

The US president said he had spoken with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who expressed strong support for the US proposal. He said the team would remain on the ground to continue technical work and that senior officials would meet in Cairo “before the end of the week.”

Biden added that he would send U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Israel to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to Israel and “stress that a comprehensive ceasefire and hostage release agreement is imminent and that no one in the region should take actions to derail that process.”

Biden told reporters Friday night that he was optimistic about the prospects for a ceasefire but warned that it was “far from over.” Asked when the ceasefire would begin if a deal was reached, Biden said: “That remains to be seen.” Israel insists peace is only possible if Hamas is destroyed, while Hamas has said it will only accept a permanent ceasefire, not a temporary one.

Other difficulties include the sequencing of the deals, the number and identity of Palestinian prisoners to be released along with the Israeli hostages, control over the Gaza-Egypt border and the free movement of Palestinians within Gaza.

An Israeli official said the Israeli delegation in Doha was returning home and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was expected to meet with Blinken on Monday.Israeli forces on Friday launched heavy attacks on targets in the tiny, crowded Gaza Strip and ordered people to leave areas previously designated as safe zones for civilians, saying Hamas had used them to fire mortars and rockets into Israel.

Hundreds of families fled with salvaged belongings and the United Nations called for a one-week suspension of polio vaccination campaigns as the disease spread among the displaced. The Palestinian Ministry of Health said in a statement that it had found the first confirmed case of polio in the Gaza Strip.

The latest hostilities in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict came on Oct. 7, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to Israeli statistics. Israel’s subsequent military campaign has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, mostly civilians, according to Palestinian health authorities.

It has also displaced almost its entire population of 2.3 million, sparked a famine crisis and led to the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide, which Israel denies. Israel says it has eliminated 17,000 Hamas fighters, while adding that the group used civilians as human shields.

Defense officials said the Israeli delegation included spy chief David Banea, Internal Security Director Ronan Barr and the military’s hostage affairs chief Nitzan Alon. The White House sent CIA Director Bill Burns and U.S. Middle East envoy Brett McGurk. Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel also took part in the visit.

Washington hopes the Gaza ceasefire will defuse the risk of a wider war. Iran has threatened to retaliate against Israel after the July 31 assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran.

The United States has sent warships, submarines and warplanes to the region to defend Israel and deter potential attackers. Asked on Friday whether Iran would continue to hold off on retaliating against Israel after the ceasefire talks were extended, Iran’s mission to the United Nations in New York said: “We hope so.”

A senior Biden administration official said Washington warned Tehran not to launch a large-scale missile attack on Israel “because the consequences could be catastrophic, especially for Iran.”