Ceasefire talks in Gaza suspended, expected to resume next week

Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha broke down on Friday, pending a reconvening of negotiators next week to try to reach a deal that would end fighting between Israel and Hamas and free the remaining hostages, as US President Joe Biden said “we are not there yet”.

In a joint statement, the United States, Qatar and Egypt said Washington had presented a new proposal based on points agreed upon last week, filling in gaps in a way that could allow for a swift implementation of a deal. Mediators would continue to work on the proposal, they said.

“The path has now been paved to achieve this: saving lives, bringing relief to the people of Gaza and easing regional tensions,” they said in the statement.

On Thursday, Israel and mediators began the latest round of talks in months to end the war in Gaza, which has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians. The Palestinian militant group Hamas was not directly involved but was kept informed of the talks.

A senior Hamas official, Izzat al-Rishq, told Reuters that Israel “has not respected what was agreed” in previous talks, citing what mediators told them.

In Washington, Biden said a deal was “much, much closer” than before talks began. A senior administration official said the latest talks had been the most productive in months and that negotiators would meet again next week in Cairo in hopes of finalizing a deal.

“All the participants agreed in the last 48 hours that there is indeed a new spirit here to bring this to a conclusion,” the official told reporters on condition of anonymity. “The Israeli team that was here was strengthened… We have made a lot of progress in the number of issues we have worked on,” the official said.

Biden said in a statement that he had directed his negotiating team to present the full bridge proposal presented on Friday, which he said provides the basis for a final agreement on a ceasefire and hostage release.

The US president said he spoke with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who he said expressed strong support for the US proposal. Teams will remain on the ground to continue technical work and senior officials will meet in Cairo “before the end of the week,” he said.

Biden added that he would send U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Israel to reaffirm America’s commitment to Israel and “to emphasize that, with a comprehensive ceasefire and hostage release agreement now in sight, no one in the region should take any action that would undermine this process.”

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

Other difficulties included the sequencing of agreements, the number and identity of Palestinian prisoners to be released alongside Israeli hostages, control of the Gaza-Egypt border, and the free movement of Palestinians within Gaza.

An Israeli official said his delegation in Doha was returning home and that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was due to meet Blinken on Monday. On Friday, Israeli forces shelled targets in small, crowded Gaza and issued new orders for people to leave areas they had previously designated as civilian safe zones, saying Hamas had used them to fire mortars and rockets into Israel.

As hundreds of families fled with salvaged belongings, the United Nations called for a week-long pause in the fight for a polio vaccination campaign, with the disease spreading among displaced people. The Palestinian Health Ministry said in a statement it had detected the first confirmed case of polio in the Gaza Strip.

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

It has also displaced nearly the entire population of 2.3 million, caused a hunger crisis and led to genocide charges at the World Court, which Israel denies. Israel has claimed to have eliminated 17,000 Hamas fighters, adding that the group uses civilians as human shields.

The Israeli delegation included spymaster David Barnea, internal security chief Ronen Bar and army hostage chief Nitzan Alon, defense officials said. 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 attended.

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

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

A senior Biden administration official said Washington has warned Tehran against launching a large-scale missile attack on Israel, “because the consequences could be quite catastrophic, particularly for Iran.”