Jerusalem/Cairo — Israel and the US recalled their delegations from Gaza ceasefire talks for consultations on Thursday, with US envoy Steve Witkoff accusing the Palestinian militant group Hamas of failing to act in good faith in the talks.
“While the mediators have made a great effort, Hamas does not appear to be co-ordinated or acting in good faith. We will now consider alternative options to bring the hostages home and try to create a more stable environment for the people of Gaza,” Witkoff said in a statement on X.
Both Israel and Hamas are facing pressure at home and abroad to reach a deal after almost two years of war, with the humanitarian situation in Gaza deteriorating sharply and Israelis worried about the conditions in which remaining hostages are being held.
An Israeli official with knowledge of the talks said the answer presented by Hamas to the most recent ceasefire proposal “does not allow for progress without a concession” by the group but that Israel intended to continue discussions.
Mediators have been seeking to clinch an agreement that would secure a ceasefire and the release of hostages still held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Dozens of people have starved to death in Gaza the last few weeks as a wave of hunger crashes on the Palestinian enclave, according to local health authorities.
The World Health Organisation said on Wednesday 21 children under the age of five were among those who died of malnutrition so far this year.
Later on Thursday, the Gaza health ministry said two more people had died of malnutrition. The head of Shifa Hospital in Gaza City said the two were patients suffering from other illnesses who died after going without food for several days.
Israel, which cut off all supplies to Gaza from the start of March and reopened it with new restrictions in May, says it is committed to allowing in aid but must control it to prevent it from being diverted by militants.
It says it has let in enough food for Gaza’s 2.2-million people over the course of the war, and blames the UN for being slow to deliver it; the UN says it is operating as effectively as possible under conditions imposed by Israel.
The war between Israel and Hamas has been raging for nearly two years since Hamas killed some 1,200 people and took 251 hostages from southern Israel in the deadliest single attack in Israel’s history.
Israel has since killed nearly 60,000 Palestinians in Gaza, decimated Hamas as a military force, reduced most of the territory to ruins and forced nearly the entire population to flee their homes multiple times.
Israeli forces on Thursday hit the central Gaza towns of Nuseirat, Deir Al-Balah and Bureij.
Health officials at Al-Awda Hospital said three people were killed in an air strike on a house in Nuseirat, three more died from tank shelling in Deir Al-Balah, and separate air strikes in Bureij killed a man and a woman and wounded several others.
Nasser hospital said three people were killed by Israeli gunfire while seeking aid in southern Gaza near the so-called Morag axis between Khan Younis and Rafah.
The Israeli military said Palestinian militants had fired a projectile overnight from Khan Younis towards an aid distribution site near Morag. It was not immediately clear whether the incidents were linked.
Washington has been pushing the warring sides towards a deal for a 60-day ceasefire that would free some of the remaining 50 hostages held in Gaza in return for prisoners jailed in Israel, and allow in aid.
Witkoff travelled to Europe this week for meetings on the Gaza war and a range of other issues.
An Israeli official said strategic affairs minister Ron Dermer would meet Witkoff on Friday if gaps between Israel and Hamas over ceasefire terms had narrowed sufficiently.
Hamas is facing growing domestic pressure amid deepening humanitarian hardship in Gaza and continued Israeli advances.
Mediators say the group is seeking a withdrawal of Israeli troops to positions held before March 2, when Israel ended a previous ceasefire, and the delivery of aid under UN supervision.
That would exclude a newly formed US-based group, the Gaza Humanitarian Fund, which began handing out food in May at sites located near Israeli troops who have shot dead hundreds of Palestinians trying to get aid.
Reuters
