TEL AVIV/GAZA/PARIS (dpa-AFX) – A new round of indirect negotiations over a ceasefire in the Gaza war began in Paris on Friday. “There is optimism, but an agreement is not imminent,” Israel’s Channel 12 television quoted an unnamed government official as saying on Friday evening. An Israeli delegation led by David Barnea, head of the foreign intelligence agency Mossad, met in Paris with representatives of Egypt, Qatar and the USA, who are mediating the talks with the Islamist Hamas.
Israel is waging a relentless war in the Gaza Strip after terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups raided southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and kidnapping another 250 as hostages. According to Palestinian information, more than 29,000 Palestinians have so far fallen victim to the fighting, the vast majority of them civilians. Well over a million Palestinians became refugees within the sealed-off coastal strip.
The indirect negotiations, which have been ongoing for several weeks, are aimed at a temporary ceasefire and the release of more than 130 hostages in return for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. So far they have been slow. Israel does not want to respond to Hamas’s maximum demands, which include a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip. The sides were also recently far apart when it came to the number of Palestinian prisoners that would have to be exchanged for Israeli hostages. More than 100 hostages were released during a ceasefire in November.
A Hamas delegation under its leader Ismail Haniya met Egyptian and Qatari mediators in Cairo in recent days. According to reports, the Islamists have scaled down some of their demands. According to Channel 12, Israel’s delegation in Paris is said to have received the authority from its government to have a certain flexibility in its own positions.
“The effort is about creating a basic framework with clear criteria for what we discuss and what we don’t discuss,” the broadcaster quoted the government official as saying. “An agreement is not imminent. The aim is to reach one before the start of the month of Ramadan.” The Muslim month of fasting begins around March 10th./gm/DP/he