Impasse over ceasefire
Qatar: ‘Humanitarian part’ is sticking point in Israel-Hamas deal
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Talks on a potential ceasefire deal in Gaza “have not been progressing as expected” in the past few days after good progress in recent weeks, key mediator Qatar said Saturday, as Israel’s prime minister accused the Hamas militant group of not changing its “delusional” demands.
Speaking during the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdurrahman Al Thani, noted difficulties in the “humanitarian part” of the negotiations.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is under pressure to bring home remaining hostages taken in the Oct. 7 Hamas attack, said he sent a delegation to ceasefire talks in Cairo earlier in the week at President Biden’s request, but doesn’t see the point in sending them again.
Hamas wants a permanent ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Palestinians held by Israel.
Netanyahu also pushed back against international concern about a planned Israeli ground offensive in Rafah, a city on southern Gaza’s border with Egypt. He said “total victory” against Hamas requires the offensive, once people living there evacuate to safe areas. Where they will go in largely devastated Gaza is not clear.
New airstrikes in central Gaza on Saturday killed more than 40 people and wounded at least 50, according to hospital officials. Israel’s military said it carried out strikes against Hamas.
Five people were killed in an Israeli airstrike that targeted a house outside Khan Younis in the south, according to health officials, and an additional five people were killed in an airstrike north of Rafah.
Israel’s offensive was triggered by the Oct. 7 attack that killed some 1,200 people in Israel and took 250 others hostage.
The Gaza Health Ministry on Saturday raised the overall death toll in Gaza to 28,858, saying the bodies of 83 people killed in Israeli bombardments were brought to hospitals in the previous 24 hours.
The war has displaced some 80% of Gaza’s population and sparked a humanitarian crisis. More than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are packed into Rafah, which Israel portrays as the last stronghold of Hamas fighters.
Meanwhile, Israel’s military said it had arrested 100 suspected Hamas fighters at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city. Israel’s defense minister has said at least 20 of those detained were involved in the Oct. 7 attack.
The Gaza Health Ministry said troops turned the hospital into “military barracks” and detained a large number of medical staff. Israel says it does not target patients or doctors, but staffers say the facility is under heavy fire.
Nour Abou Jameh was among the thousands of Palestinians sheltering at the hospital who were forced to leave in the past week.
“Shooting and shelling was coming from all directions,” Jameh said. “When we left at night, bodies were in the streets, and even tanks moved on them and crushed them.”