No progress made as Hamas-Israel initiate indirect talks

DM Monitoring

GAZA: The first session of indirect ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel, held in Qatar, ended without a breakthrough, two Palestinian sources familiar with the matter said early Monday. The sources added that the Israeli delegation lacked the authority to reach an agreement with Hamas.
The talks resumed on Sunday ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s third visit to the White House since US President Donald Trump returned to office nearly six months ago.
“After the first session of indirect negotiations in Doha, the Israeli delegation is not sufficiently author-ized to reach an agreement with Hamas, as it has no real powers,” the sources told Reuters.
Netanyahu, before departing for Washington, said Israeli negotiators had clear instructions to pursue a ceasefire under conditions previously accepted by Israel.
On Saturday evening, crowds gathered in Tel Aviv’s public square near the defence ministry headquar-ters to demand a ceasefire deal and the return of approximately 50 hostages still held in Gaza. Demon-strators waved Israeli flags, chanted slogans, and held posters with images of the hostages.
The current wave of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages, according to Israeli figures. Around 20 of those hostages are believed to still be alive. While many have been re-leased through diplomatic efforts, others were recovered by Israeli military operations.
Gaza’s health ministry reports that Israel’s retaliatory military campaign has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, caused widespread displacement, created a severe hunger crisis, and left much of the territory in ruins.
On the other hand, Iran is willing to resume nuclear negotiations with the United States, President Masoud Pezeshkian has said, but only if Washington can re-establish trust following recent hostilities.
In an interview released on Monday with former US television host Tucker Carlson, the Iranian president stated, “We see no problem in re-entering the negotiations,” but added that Tehran requires guarantees that attacks like those in June will not recur. The comments come just weeks after a dramatic escalation between Iran and Israel, during which the United States also conducted strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities. The clashes disrupted an anticipated round of nuclear talks that had been scheduled between Washington and Tehran.
“How are we going to trust the US again?” Pezeshkian asked during the interview. “We re-entered the negotiations, then how can we know for sure that in the middle of the talks, the Israeli regime will not be given the permission again to attack us?”
President Pezeshkian further accused Israel of attempting to assassinate him amid the conflict. “They did try, yes. They acted accordingly, but they failed,” he said, claiming that a meeting he was attending was targeted in an Israeli airstrike.