Gaza truce negotiation falters over withdrawal

GAZA/JERUSALEM — Progress is stalling at talks aimed at securing a ceasefire in Gaza, with the sides divided over the extent of Israeli forces' withdrawal from the Palestinian enclave, Palestinian and Israeli sources familiar with the negotiations in Doha said on Saturday.

The indirect talks over a US proposal for a 60-day ceasefire continued throughout Saturday, an Israeli official told Reuters, seven days since talks began.

In Gaza, medics said 17 people trying to get food aid were killed on Saturday when Israeli troops opened fire, the latest mass shooting around a US-backed aid distribution system that the UN says has resulted in 800 people killed in six weeks.

Witnesses who spoke to Reuters described people being shot in the head and torso. Reuters saw several bodies of victims wrapped in white shrouds as family members wept at Nasser Hospital. The Israeli military said its troops had fired warning shots, but that its review of the incident had found no evidence of anyone hurt by its soldiers' fire.

Delegations from Israel and Hamas have been in Qatar pushing for an agreement that envisages a phased release of hostages, Israeli troop withdrawals and discussions on ending the conflict.

The Israeli official blamed the impasse on Hamas, which he said "remains stubborn, sticking to positions that do not allow the mediators to advance an agreement". Hamas has previously blamed Israeli demands for blocking a deal.

A Palestinian source said that Hamas had rejected withdrawal maps that Israel had proposed that would leave around 40 percent of Gaza under Israeli control, including all of the southern areas of Rafah and further territories in northern and eastern Gaza.

Two Israeli sources said Hamas wanted Israel to retreat to lines it held in a previous ceasefire before it renewed its offensive in March.

The Palestinian source said aid issues and guarantees on an end to the war were also presenting a challenge.

Hamas has long demanded an agreement to end the conflict before it would free remaining hostages; Israel has insisted it would end the fighting only when all hostages are released and Hamas is dismantled as a fighting force and administration in Gaza.

Gaza's civil defense agency said Israeli airstrikes on Sunday killed at least 27 Palestinians, including six near a water distribution point.

Civil defense spokesman Mahmud Bassal told AFP that Gaza City was hit by several strikes overnight and in the early morning, killing eight people "including children and women" and wounding others.

At least 38 people were killed across the territory on Saturday, including in an overnight airstrike on an area sheltering the displaced.

The Hamas attacks on Israel in 2023 resulted in the deaths of about 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages into Gaza. At least 20 of the remaining 50 hostages there are believed to still be alive.

Israel's campaign against Hamas has killed more than 57,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, displaced almost the entire population of more than 2 million people, sparked a humanitarian crisis and left much of the territory in ruins.

Thousands of Israelis rallied in central Tel Aviv on Saturday demanding a deal that would release all the remaining hostages being held by Hamas.

Agencies via Xinhua