Destroyed buildings are pictured in the Gaza Strip as seen from a position along the border in southern Israel on July 29, 2025. (Credit: Jack Guez/AFP.)
The Hamas negotiating team left the Qatari capital Doha on Tuesday for Turkey to discuss the "latest developments" following a deadlock in talks with Israel on a Gaza cease-fire, a Hamas official told AFP.
"A high-level Hamas delegation, led by Mohammed Darwish, chairman of the movement's governing council, and including the negotiating team and its leader, Khalil al-Hayya, is leaving Doha for Istanbul," the source told AFP.
"The delegation will hold several meetings with Turkish officials regarding the latest developments in the cease-fire talks, which stalled last week," the source added.
Indirect talks had been held for more than two weeks between the Israeli and Hamas delegations, under the mediation of countries including Qatar, to reach a cease-fire agreement and the release of Israeli hostages, nearly 22 months after the start of the war.
U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that Hamas "did not want a deal" and wanted "to die."
His envoy Steve Witkoff had acknowledged the day before the failure of the talks and questioned Hamas's good faith.
Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas's political bureau, told AFP on Friday that the latest discussions focused on details of the Israeli army's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. Other officials of the Islamist movement expressed surprise at the American comments, saying they believed negotiations were making progress.
On Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar rejected international pressure for a cease-fire. If Israel stopped the war while Hamas remained in power in Gaza and continued holding hostages, it would be a "tragedy," he said.
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