Hamas to stay out of Gaza truce talks but may meet mediators afterwards
Israel will attend talks; Hamas may meet mediators after
US Secretary of State reported to have postponed trip
Iran could hold back attack on Israel with Gaza truce
Biden adviser visits Lebanon for de-escalation talks
Adds areas of divisions in talks in paragraphs 19-20
By Nidal al-Mughrabi
CAIRO, Aug 14 (Reuters) -Hamas said on Wednesday it would not take part in a new round of Gaza ceasefire talks slated for Thursday in Qatar, but an official briefed on the talks said mediators expected to consult with the Palestinian group afterwards.
The U.S. has said it expects indirect talks to go ahead as planned in Qatar's capital Doha on Thursday, and that a ceasefire agreement was still possible, while warning that progress was needed urgently to avert a wider war.
However Axios reported that U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has postponed a trip to the Middle East that had been expected to begin on Tuesday.
Three senior Iranian officials have said that only a ceasefire deal in Gaza would hold Iran back from direct retaliation against Israel for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on its soil last month.
"Israel will send the negotiations team on the agreed upon date, that's tomorrow August 15th, in order to finalise the details of the implementation of the framework agreement," government spokesperson David Mencer said in a briefing.
The delegation includes Israel's spy chief David Barnea, head of the domestic security service Ronen Bar and the military's hostages chief Nitzan Alon, a defence official said.
Hamas has voiced scepticism about the chances of the talks delivering real results, blaming Israel for stalling, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar has been the main obstacle to sealing a deal.
"Going to new negotiations allows the occupation to impose new conditions and employ the maze of negotiation to conduct more massacres," Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters.
Hamas' absence from the talks, however, does not eliminate the chances of progress since its chief negotiator Khalil al-Hayya is based in Doha and the group has open channels with Egypt and Qatar.
"Hamas is committed to the proposal presented to it on July 2, which is based on the U.N. Security Council resolution and the Biden speech and the movement is prepared to immediately begin discussion over a mechanism to implement it," said Abu Zuhri.
A source familiar with the matter said that Hamas wants the mediators to come back to them with a "serious response" from Israel. If that happens, the group says, it will meet with mediators after the Thursday session. An official briefed on the talks process said mediators expected to consult with Hamas.
LEBANON
Amos Hochstein, a senior adviser to U.S. President Joe Biden, was in Lebanon to deter a separate escalation between Iran-backed Hezbollah and Israel, after the latter killed a senior Hezbollah commander in Beirut's southern suburbs last month.
Hochstein met parliament speaker Nabih Berri, who heads the armed Amal movement, which is allied to Hezbollah and has also fired rockets on Israel, and will meet Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati.
"There's no more valid excuses from any party for any further delay," the U.S. envoy told a press conference.
In Gaza, residents of the southern city of Khan Younis said Israeli forces blew up homes in the east and intensified tank shelling on eastern areas of the city centre.
Israel said it was responding to Hamas rocket fire and had struck launching pads and militants. Armed wings of Hamas and Islamic Jihad said they had attacked Israeli forces.
Hamas also said its fighters were engaged in fierce clashes with Israeli forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, where Israel said it had killed a number of militants.
A ceasefire deal would aim to ensure the release of Israeli hostages held there in return for Palestinians jailed in Israel, but the two sides remain divided by sequencing and other issues.
Netanyahu has insisted in recent weeks that Israel retain control of a border strip between Gaza and Egypt to stop weapons smuggling, though Israel's military chief of staff Herzi Halevi has said it could monitor the area remotely if necessary.
Divisions also remain over allowing people inside Gaza to travel freely between different parts of the territory after a ceasefire deal.
A Hamas-led attack on Israeli communities around the Gaza Strip on Oct. 7 killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, with more than 250 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
In response, Israeli forces have razed much of Gaza, displaced most of the population and killed around 40,000 people, most of them civilians, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
Israel has lost more than 300 soldiers and says around a third of the Palestinian fatalities in Gaza have been fighters.
Reporting by Nidal al-Mughrabi; additional reporting by Andrew Mills in Doha, Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem, Jonathan Landay in Washington and Riham Alkousaa; Editing by Philippa Fletcher
تازہ ترين خبريں
دستبرداری: XM Group کے ادارے ہماری آن لائن تجارت کی سہولت تک صرف عملدرآمد کی خدمت اور رسائی مہیا کرتے ہیں، کسی شخص کو ویب سائٹ پر یا اس کے ذریعے دستیاب کانٹینٹ کو دیکھنے اور/یا استعمال کرنے کی اجازت دیتا ہے، اس پر تبدیل یا توسیع کا ارادہ نہیں ہے ، اور نہ ہی یہ تبدیل ہوتا ہے یا اس پر وسعت کریں۔ اس طرح کی رسائی اور استعمال ہمیشہ مشروط ہوتا ہے: (i) شرائط و ضوابط؛ (ii) خطرہ انتباہات؛ اور (iii) مکمل دستبرداری۔ لہذا اس طرح کے مواد کو عام معلومات سے زیادہ کے طور پر فراہم کیا جاتا ہے۔ خاص طور پر، براہ کرم آگاہ رہیں کہ ہماری آن لائن تجارت کی سہولت کے مندرجات نہ تو کوئی درخواست ہے، اور نہ ہی فنانشل مارکیٹ میں کوئی لین دین داخل کرنے کی پیش کش ہے۔ کسی بھی فنانشل مارکیٹ میں تجارت میں آپ کے سرمائے کے لئے ایک خاص سطح کا خطرہ ہوتا ہے۔
ہماری آن لائن تجارتی سہولت پر شائع ہونے والے تمام مٹیریل کا مقصد صرف تعلیمی/معلوماتی مقاصد کے لئے ہے، اور اس میں شامل نہیں ہے — اور نہ ہی اسے فنانشل، سرمایہ کاری ٹیکس یا تجارتی مشورے اور سفارشات؛ یا ہماری تجارتی قیمتوں کا ریکارڈ؛ یا کسی بھی فنانشل انسٹرومنٹ میں لین دین کی پیشکش؛ یا اسکے لئے مانگ؛ یا غیر متنازعہ مالی تشہیرات پر مشتمل سمجھا جانا چاہئے۔
کوئی تھرڈ پارٹی کانٹینٹ، نیز XM کے ذریعہ تیار کردہ کانٹینٹ، جیسے: راۓ، خبریں، تحقیق، تجزیہ، قیمتیں اور دیگر معلومات یا اس ویب سائٹ پر مشتمل تھرڈ پارٹی کے سائٹس کے لنکس کو "جیسے ہے" کی بنیاد پر فراہم کیا جاتا ہے، عام مارکیٹ کی تفسیر کے طور پر، اور سرمایہ کاری کے مشورے کو تشکیل نہ دیں۔ اس حد تک کہ کسی بھی کانٹینٹ کو سرمایہ کاری کی تحقیقات کے طور پر سمجھا جاتا ہے، آپ کو نوٹ کرنا اور قبول کرنا ہوگا کہ یہ کانٹینٹ سرمایہ کاری کی تحقیق کی آزادی کو فروغ دینے کے لئے ڈیزائن کردہ قانونی تقاضوں کے مطابق نہیں ہے اور تیار نہیں کیا گیا ہے، اسی طرح، اس پر غور کیا جائے گا بطور متعلقہ قوانین اور ضوابط کے تحت مارکیٹنگ مواصلات۔ براہ کرم یقینی بنائیں کہ آپ غیر آزاد سرمایہ کاری سے متعلق ہماری اطلاع کو پڑھ اور سمجھ چکے ہیں۔ مذکورہ بالا معلومات کے بارے میں تحقیق اور رسک وارننگ ، جس تک رسائی یہاں حاصل کی جا سکتی ہے۔
