Palestinians in mourning carry the bodies of children killed in an Israeli nighttime airstrike on a house, during a funeral at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, on July 6, 2025. (Credit: Mahmoud ISSA/Reuters.)
Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas over a cease-fire and the release of hostages in Gaza began Sunday evening in Doha, just ahead of a high stakes meeting in Washington between Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump.
"The discussions focus on the implementation mechanisms" of the agreement and an "exchange" of hostages held in Gaza for Palestinians detained in Israel, a Palestinian source close to the negotiations, which are being conducted through mediators, told AFP.
Before flying to the United States, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his meeting with Donald Trump could "help advance this outcome that we all hope for." The American president is pushing for a truce in the Gaza Strip, plunged into a critical humanitarian situation after 21 months of war.
Netanyahu indicated he had given his negotiators "clear instructions": reach an agreement "under the conditions we have accepted." The Israeli leader deemed it "unacceptable" on Saturday the "changes that Hamas is seeking to make to the initial proposal" sponsored by the United States and transmitted by Qatari and Egyptian mediators.
'Important mission'
According to Palestinian sources close to the discussions, the proposal includes a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 hostages still alive, as well as the bodies of deceased captives, in exchange for the release of Palestinians held by Israel. According to these sources, the changes requested by the Palestinian movement concern the modalities of the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, guarantees it wishes to obtain regarding the cessation of hostilities after the 60 days, and a resumption of the handling of humanitarian aid distribution by the U.N. and recognized international organizations.
Netanyahu has an "important mission" in Washington, said Israeli President Isaac Herzog after meeting him Sunday morning: "to advance an agreement to bring all our hostages home."
Of the 251 people kidnapped during Hamas's attack in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the war, 49 are still held in Gaza, including 27 declared dead by the Israeli army.
A first truce of one week in November 2023, followed by a second of two months at the start of 2025, allowed the return of many hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinians detained by Israel. On March 18, due to lack of an agreement on the continuation of the cease-fire, Israel resumed its offensive in Gaza, where Hamas, considered a terrorist movement by the United States, the European Union, and Israel, took power in 2007.
'Hunger as a weapon of war'
In the Gaza Strip, where more than two million inhabitants, repeatedly displaced, live in terrible conditions according to the U.N. and NGOs, 26 Palestinians were killed on Sunday by Israeli bombings, according to Mahmoud Bassal, spokesperson for the Civil Defense. Questioned by AFP on the facts reported by Bassal, the Israeli army said it was not in a position to comment immediately.
On Friday, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights recorded at least 613 people killed during aid distributions in Gaza between May 26 and June 27, including 509 near the centers of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), an organization supported by the United States and Israel.
Brazilian President Lula accused Israel on Sunday of committing "genocide" in the besieged, starved, and war-devastated Palestinian territory. "We cannot remain indifferent to the genocide perpetrated by Israel in Gaza, the massacre of innocent civilians and the use of hunger as a weapon of war," said Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Lula) during his opening speech at the BRICS summit in Rio de Janeiro.
The Oct.7 attack claimed 1,219 Israeli lives, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data. At least 57,418 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in Israeli reprisals in Gaza, according to data from Gaza's Health Ministry.
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