CAIRO (Reuters) – Negotiations involving Qatari, Egyptian and American mediators aimed at reaching a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza war were still ongoing on Thursday but showed no signs of progress, said two Egyptian security sources.
The talks began on Wednesday when CIA Director William Burns met with senior Qatari and Egyptian officials in Doha to discuss a proposal that US President Joe Biden publicly supported last week. Biden described the three-phase plan as an Israeli initiative.
The talks in Qatar were aimed at finding a formula that could reassure Hamas about its demand for guarantees that the deal would provide a complete cessation of hostilities in the Gaza Strip and a full Israeli withdrawal from the territory, the Egyptian sources said.
Hamas expressed concerns about some provisions of the proposal, especially the second phase, the sources added.
According to a summary of the plan published by the White House, the second phase includes a permanent end to hostilities as well as the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Egyptian sources said Qatari and Egyptian mediators met separately with Hamas and US officials in Doha. They said there was no indication that a deal was close to being reached.
Qatari, Egyptian and US officials have been holding talks for months with the aim of securing a ceasefire in Gaza, as well as the release of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said on Wednesday that the group would “deal seriously and positively with any agreement that is based on a comprehensive end to aggression and a complete withdrawal and prisoner exchange.”
Israel said there would be no halt to fighting during ceasefire talks, while it mounted a new attack on a central section of the Gaza Strip.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters on Thursday that while the group welcomed what he called “Biden’s ideas,” the draft U.S. resolution at the U.N. Security Council was dependent on a proposal Israeli ceasefire that Hamas saw and rejected.
“The (US) document… makes no mention of ending aggression or withdrawal,” he said.
“The Israeli documents speak of open negotiations without a deadline, and speak of a phase during which the occupation recovers its hostages and resumes the war. We had told the mediators that such a document was not acceptable to us,” he said. Abu Zuhri.
He said Hamas was committed to its May 5 proposal, which was based on an end to fighting and an Israeli withdrawal, a swap agreement and the lifting of the blockade of the enclave.
The war began after Hamas attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli records.
Israel’s military response in Gaza has killed more than 36,000 people, according to Gaza health officials, who say thousands more are buried under the rubble.
(Reporting by Ahmed Mohamed Hassan in Cairo, writing by Aidan Lewis, editing by Angus MacSwan)
