Hamas has stated that any resumption of ceasefire talks regarding the conflict in Gaza should be based on previously established plans, rather than initiating new rounds of negotiations.
Last week, international mediators from Qatar, Egypt, and the US urged Israel and Hamas to engage in negotiations on a ceasefire and hostage release deal scheduled for 15 August.
On Thursday, Israel confirmed that it would send a team of negotiators to participate in the meeting. Negotiations had stalled last month after new terms were introduced to the framework presented by US President Joe Biden in May.
On Monday, the leaders of the UK, France, and Germany issued a joint call for talks to resume without further delay.
UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron, and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz echoed the mediators’ call for the resumption of ceasefire talks in a joint statement.
“We agree that there can be no further delay,” the statement said.
“We have been working with all parties to prevent escalation and will spare no effort to reduce tensions and find a path to stability.”
The countries also called for the de-escalation of tensions in the Middle East, which have heightened since the assassination of senior members of Hamas and the Lebanese group Hezbollah.
US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin confirmed on Sunday night that he had ordered the deployment of a guided missile submarine to the Middle East, which will join the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, already heading to the region.
Iran has previously stated that it will respond to the killing of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh at the “right time” and in the “appropriate” manner, asserting that the US bears responsibility for his death due to its support of Israel.
In response to pressure from mediators regarding the ceasefire talks, Hamas has called for a plan based on President Biden’s “vision” from May. This implies agreeing to resume negotiations from the point where they previously halted, rather than starting a new initiative.
“The mediators should enforce this on the occupation (Israel) instead of pursuing further rounds of negotiations or new proposals that would provide cover for the occupation’s aggression and grant it more time to continue its genocide against our people,” the Hamas statement said.
Sources told the BBC that the introduction of new Israeli conditions, such as screening displaced Palestinians returning to the north of Gaza and addressing the control of the Philadelphi corridor bordering Egypt, had been major sticking points.
The BBC understands that Hamas is willing to resume talks from the point before these new conditions were introduced.
On Sunday, the Israeli military ordered thousands of Palestinians in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, to relocate to designated “humanitarian zones.”
This relocation order followed an Israeli airstrike on a school building in Gaza on Saturday, which killed over 70 people, according to a local hospital director.
Fadl Naeem, head of al-Ahli Hospital where many casualties were taken, reported that around 70 victims were identified shortly after the strike, with many others so badly disfigured that identification was challenging.
An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman said the school “served as an active Hamas and Islamic Jihad military facility,” a claim Hamas denies.
IDF spokesman Rear Adm Daniel Hagari stated that “various intelligence indications” suggest a “high probability” that Ashraf Juda, commander of Islamic Jihad’s Central Camps Brigade, was at the al-Taba’een school when it was struck. It remains unclear if the commander was killed in the attack.
The BBC cannot independently verify casualty figures from either side.
Israel asserts that Hamas is using civilian infrastructure to plan and execute attacks, which is why it has targeted hospitals and schools—sites protected under international law. Hamas has consistently denied these accusations.
On October 7, Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people in an attack on Israel and took 251 others back to Gaza as hostages. This attack triggered a massive Israeli military offensive against Gaza, leading to the current conflict.
According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, more than 39,790 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli campaign.
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