Hamas announced there were “positive indicators” for the start of the ceasefire’s second-phase talks but did not elaborate.
Israel also said it was preparing for talks.
“Israel has accepted the invitation of the mediators backed by the U.S., and will send a delegation to Doha on Monday in an effort to advance the negotiations,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office noted.
A delegation from Hamas is engaging in ceasefire talks in Cairo with Egyptian mediators who have been helping facilitate the talks along with officials from Qatar. They aim to proceed to the next stage of the deal, which could open the way to ending the war.
“We affirm our readiness to engage in the second-phase negotiations in a way that meets the demands of our people, and we call for intensified efforts to aid the Gaza Strip and lift the blockade on our suffering people,” Hamas spokesman Abdel-Latif Al-Qanoua stated in a statement.
In a later statement reporting its delegation’s meeting with the head of Egypt’s general intelligence agency, Hassan Mahmoud Rashad, Hamas affirmed the group’s approval of forming a committee of what it described as “national and independent” characters to run Gaza until elections.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi earlier said Cairo had worked in cooperation with Palestinians on creating an administrative committee of independent, professional Palestinian technocrats entrusted with the governance of the besieged enclave after the end of the war.
His remarks came during the Arab summit which adopted Egypt’s alternative reconstruction plan for Gaza, as opposed to U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Middle East Riviera” vision.
The Gaza ceasefire agreement that took effect in January calls for the remaining 59 hostages in Hamas captivity to be freed in a second phase, during which final plans would be negotiated for an end to the war.
The first phase of the ceasefire ended last week. Israel has since imposed a total blockade on all goods entering the enclave, demanding that Hamas free the remaining hostages without beginning the negotiations to end the Gaza war.
Fighting has been halted since January 19 and Hamas has released 33 Israeli hostages and five Thais for some 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Israeli authorities believe fewer than half of the remaining 59 hostages are still alive.
Israel’s aggression on the enclave has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities. It has also internally displaced nearly Gaza’s entire population and led to accusations of genocide and war crimes that Israel denies.
The assault began after Hamas-led fighters raided southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
