Hamas Pushes for Phase Two of Gaza Truce Talks

AFP/APP
Palestine: Hamas reiterated on Sunday its insistence on moving directly into negotiating a second phase of the Gaza truce, as Israel announced it would dispatch a delegation to Doha for further talks.
Representatives of the Palestinian group met with mediators in Cairo at the weekend, emphasizing the need for humanitarian aid to re-enter the besieged territory “without restrictions or conditions,” according to a Hamas press release.
The high-level delegation also stressed the need for “moving directly to begin negotiations for the second phase” of the deal, which will aim to lay the groundwork for a permanent ceasefire.
Hamas’s demands for the second phase include a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, an end to the blockade, the reconstruction of the territory, and financial support, an official told AFP.
Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanoua said indicators were so far “positive.”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, meanwhile, said it would send delegates to Doha on Monday.
Israel has maintained it wants an extension of the truce’s first phase until mid-April. That initial period ended on March 1 after six weeks of relative calm that included the exchange of 25 living hostages and eight bodies for the release of about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
The truce largely halted more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza, where virtually the entire population was displaced by Israel’s relentless military campaign in response to Hamas’s October 7, 2023, attack.
It also enabled the flow of vital food, shelter, and medical assistance into Gaza. After Israel turned the pipeline off again, UN rights experts accused the government of “weaponizing starvation.”
Displaced Palestinian widow Haneen al-Dura told AFP she and her children spent a month and a half living on the street “among dogs and rats” before receiving a tent.

“As the family’s provider, it was distressing, and I couldn’t sleep at all during the night,” she said.