Doha / Gaza City – July 7, 2025
Amid intensifying diplomatic efforts and a deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to send a negotiating team to Qatar for renewed ceasefire talks, even as Israeli airstrikes killed at least 78 Palestinians in the last 24 hours.
The decision to dispatch the team came after Netanyahu’s office said Israel would “accept the invitation for close talks” in Doha, but maintained that Hamas’s proposed changes to the truce framework are “unacceptable.” The statement did not detail which parts of the proposal Hamas sought to amend.
Background to the Talks
The move follows Hamas’s announcement on Friday, where the group described its response to a U.S.-brokered ceasefire proposal as “positive.” The proposed deal reportedly includes a 60-day truce, paving the way for hostage releases and increased humanitarian aid.
Despite this, Israel’s leadership has rejected some of Hamas’s latest demands, which are believed to include:
- Permanent cessation of hostilities, not just a temporary pause.
- Humanitarian aid distribution via UN mechanisms, not the U.S.- and Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF).
- Restrictions on Israeli troop presence inside Gaza during the truce.
The Toll of War
The war, which began after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attacks, has left at least 57,338 Palestinians dead and over 135,000 injured, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry. Israeli airstrikes have flattened neighborhoods, devastated infrastructure, and driven much of the Strip’s population to the brink of famine.
On Saturday night, Israel carried out a series of airstrikes across Gaza, including a deadly attack on a UNRWA school sheltering displaced families in Gaza City. Dozens were killed or injured, with funerals held at Al-Ahli Arab Hospital drawing grief-stricken crowds.
Hamas and International Pressure
Hamas, in its recent statement, reaffirmed its willingness to “immediately enter a new round of negotiations”, signaling readiness to advance the implementation of the current ceasefire framework.
The pressure for a truce is mounting as international outrage grows over the humanitarian catastrophe and rising civilian death toll. Aid organizations have warned that Gaza’s situation is spiraling into an unprecedented disaster, with hunger, disease, and mass displacement now rampant.
What’s Next?
With Israeli envoys en route to Qatar, attention now shifts to whether a viable compromise can be brokered. Netanyahu remains under domestic and international pressure — not just to end the war, but to secure the return of hostages still held in Gaza.
But deep mistrust and clashing political interests on both sides may continue to stall progress
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