JAKARTA - The Israeli government will withdraw its entire negotiating team from Gaza's ceasefire negotiations in Doha, Qatar, Israeli media reported Thursday.
High-level members of the delegation have been recalled to Israel on Tuesday, with only members of the working-level team remaining in Doha, according to information from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, quoted from Daily Sabah May 23.
The unconditional release of US-Israeli citizen Edan Alexander by Hamas this month has raised hopes that the Gaza ceasefire agreement will soon be reached.
Two weeks after, optimism evaporated as Israel stepped up attacks on the Gaza Strip that killed many civilians.
A Hamas official based in Beirut, Lebanon said on Thursday the final round of ceasefire negotiations in Qatar had failed and blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for sabotaging the negotiations.
"As usual, whenever the atmosphere becomes positive and we approach an agreement, Netanyahu appears to sabotage negotiations and block the way to an agreement for his personal interests," he said, quoted by The National.
Sources told The National that three members of the Israeli delegation had no mandate to negotiate and spend more time in their hotel rooms than on negotiating tables or with mediators from the US, Egypt and Qatar.
"The whole process seems to be gradually losing momentum as soon as Edan Alexander is released," said one source.
"Hamas negotiators feel cheated and betrayed, with Egyptian and Qatar mediators very frustrated by the lack of progress following the explosion of initial optimism," he continued.
"Almost like they (Israel) went to Doha to block the process," the source added.
Ahead of Alexander's release on May 12, US mediators held direct talks with Hamas officials in Doha and everyone involved, including mediators, becoming more hopeful than a few months earlier, a deal could be reached.
But the source said Hamas, who was disappointed with the lack of a US 'gift' for Alexander's release, had rejected the latest ceasefire proposal. The proposal echoed the ideas first suggested by US envoy Steve Witkoff and accepted by Israel, they said.
The proposal regulates a six-week ceasefire, the resumption of aid deliveries to Gaza and the release of 10 hostages along with the remains of half of those killed in detention.
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The plan does not guarantee a full withdrawal of Israel from Gaza or a permanent ceasefire, which is at the heart of Hamas' demands for a comprehensive deal that will release all 58 hostages, of which only 20 are believed to be alive in exchange for a five to 10 year ceasefire and the freedom of hundreds of Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.
Hamas has in recent months also signaled its willingness to relinquish any role in Gaza's postwar rule and reconstruction, and to turn itself into a political party.
Hamas have also hinted that they are ready to lay down, but do not give up, their weapons and for some of their leaders to leave Gaza to live in exile.
Yesterday, medical sources in Gaza said the death toll of Palestinians in the enclave since October 7, 2023 has reached 53,762 people, while the injured reached 122,197 people, the majority of women and children, quoted from WAFA.
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