But it added: “The movement displayed the required flexibility and agreed to release 10 prisoners (hostages).
“Despite the difficulty of negotiations over these issues until now due to the intransigence of the occupation, we continue to work seriously and with a positive spirit with the mediators to overcome the hurdles and end the suffering of our people and ensure their aspirations to freedom, safety and a dignified life.”
Israel appeared earlier to fall in behind US President Donald Trump and his optimism for an end to the conflict, as the talks in Doha stretched into a fourth day with reported complaints about its stance on aid.
Israeli army chief Eyal Zamir said in a televised address that military action had prepared the ground for a deal that would bring home the Israeli hostages.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who was still uncompromising in his determination to crush Hamas after talks with Trump in Washington on Wednesday, said he believed an agreement was on the horizon.
“I think we’re getting closer to a deal,” he told Fox Business Network’s Mornings with Maria programme. “There’s a good chance that we’ll have it.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar also said he thought a temporary deal was “achievable” and could herald talks for a more lasting peace, while President Isaac Herzog talked of “a historic opportunity” for change.
“We are in an era of tectonic shifts, where the global balance of power and the regional strategic landscape are being reshaped,” Herzog said.
“We must not miss this moment.”
‘Mostly listening’
Netanyahu insists he wants to permanently neutralise the threat to Israel from Hamas.
But he is under increasing pressure at home and abroad to end the war, particularly as the death toll of soldiers killed by homemade bombs and ambushes in Gaza increases.
The military announced yesterday that another soldier had been killed in combat in Gaza.
Hamas has vowed “Gaza will not surrender”.
One Palestinian source familiar with the negotiations in Doha said the Israeli delegation was “mostly listening rather than negotiating, which reflects Netanyahu’s ongoing policy of obstruction and sabotaging any potential agreement”.
Hamas has previously rebuffed pressure to release all the hostages, demanding an end to the war and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel wants to ensure Hamas can never again threaten its security.
Qatari mediators had warned earlier this week that it would take time to seal a deal.
Like an earthquake
On the ground, Gaza’s civil defence agency said yesterday that 26 people were killed in Israeli strikes, at least six of them children.
“The explosion was massive, like an earthquake,” said Zuhair Judeh, 40, who witnessed one of the strikes, which prompted frantic scenes as people scrabbled in the rubble for survivors.
“The bodies and remains of the martyrs were scattered,” he added, calling it “a horrific massacre”.
In response to an AFP request for comment on a strike on the Al-Shati camp near Gaza City, the Israeli military said it “struck a number of Hamas terrorists”.
Because of restrictions imposed on the media in the Gaza Strip and difficulties accessing the area, AFP is unable to independently verify the death tolls and details shared by the parties involved.
Hamas’ October 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1219 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign has killed at least 57,680 people in Gaza, also mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry. The United Nations considers the figures reliable.
- Agence France-Presse
