Qatar told Israel on Sunday that ceasefire talks will not be able to advance, after Hamas failed to meet Jerusalem’s demand to provide a list of those hostages still alive.
As a result, Israel will not send a delegation to the negotiations in Cairo on Sunday, after it was reported earlier in the day that U.S. and Emirati delegations were joining Hamas representatives in the Egyptian capital.
Israel’s War Cabinet and senior government officials unanimously accepted the decision not to send a delegation.
“Hamas refuses to provide clear answers regarding the list of abductees and the number of prisoners who will be released, and because of this situation, there is no reason to send an Israeli delegation to Cairo,” Israeli government sources said, according to Ynet.
“This is the position of all the professionals and not just the prime minister. At the moment, Hamas’s answer is that there is no answer. They are trying to impose on us. ... [T]here is no reason to send an Israeli delegation,” the official said.
A senior Hamas official had earlier told AFP that if Israel met its demands, which include a full military withdrawal from the Strip and an end to the current war, it would “pave the way for an agreement within the next 24-48 hours.”
Jerusalem has rejected as “delusional” Hamas’s demands for an Israeli military withdrawal and an end to the war that would leave the terrorist group in power. The Israeli War Cabinet has not wavered from its stated goals to defeat Hamas, free the hostages and ensure that Gaza Strip can never again threaten Israel.
Additionally, the terrorist group is demanding a significant increase in humanitarian aid into the Strip, with the Hamas official saying it is demanding “the entry of at least 400 to 500 trucks per day.”
A U.S. official told reporters on Saturday that “there’s a framework deal” for a ceasefire that “the Israelis have more or less accepted.”
The six-week ceasefire called for in the framework agreement would also see hundreds of Palestinian terrorists released from Israeli prisons in exchange for Israeli hostages captured on Oct. 7.
