Ceasefire negotiations for Gaza set to resume in coming days

Negotiations over a potential Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal are set to resume in Doha in the coming days, officials from the US, Israel and Qatar have said, News.Az reports citing BBC .

A spokesperson for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu said an Israeli delegation will travel to Qatar on Sunday.

It is not yet clear whether Hamas has agreed to participate in the talks.

The US believes the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar last week - seen as one of the group's most extreme figures - may open the door to an agreement, though Hamas has accused Israel of being the primary block to any deal.

“With Sinwar gone,” US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told journalists, “there is a real opportunity to bring home [the hostages] and to accomplish the objective.”

Mr Blinken said that objective was to reach a deal "so that Israel can withdraw, so that Hamas cannot reconstitute, and so that the Palestinian people can rebuild their lives and rebuild their futures".

Previous discussions over such a deal have focused on a May 30 proposal from US President Joe Biden, which was “positively” received by Hamas.

That proposal laid out a three-step plan that would begin with a six-week ceasefire, in which the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) would withdraw from populated areas of Gaza.

There would also be a "surge" of humanitarian aid, as well as an exchange of some hostages for Palestinian prisoners.

It would eventually lead to a permanent "cessation of hostilities" and a major reconstruction plan for Gaza.

But talks faltered, with a key sticking-point being Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's insistence on an Israeli troop presence on the Gaza-Egypt border, known as the Philadelphi corridor.

News.Az