Photo: Collected
Efforts aimed at securing an elusive truce in exchange for hostages held in Gaza were due to resume Monday as disagreement between Israel and Hamas over demands to end the seven-month war intensified.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that "surrendering" to a demand to end the war would amount to defeat, while Qatar-based Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh accused Netanyahu of sabotaging the talks.
Negotiations were due to continue Monday in Qatar, where CIA director Bill Burns was expected for "emergency" talks on mediation efforts with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, a source with knowledge of the discussions told AFP.
A Hamas official said Sunday the group's delegation for Gaza truce talks was headed to Doha for "consultations" after the last round of talks in Cairo failed to produce a breakthrough.
Hamas negotiators are then due back in Cairo on Tuesday, said Al-Qahera News, a site linked to Egyptian intelligence services.
In Rafah in southern Gaza, where about 1.2 million Palestinians have sought shelter, medics and first responders said 16 people were killed Sunday in Israeli air strikes, hours after Hamas rockets had killed three Israeli soldiers.
Residents of the southern Gaza city told AFP they feared an upsurge in violence if truce talks collapse.
Naja Shaat, 59, said she was "extremely joyful" when she thought a ceasefire was imminent, "but today... we are on pins and needles".
Gaza's bloodiest-ever war began following Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel that resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Hamas also seized some 250 hostages.
Vowing to destroy Hamas, Israel's retaliatory offensive has killed at least 34,683 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.
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