White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told reporters today that the talks in Doha, Qatar for a ceasefire in Gaza are off to “a promising start,” reported the Times of Israel. Kirby claimed that the mediators managed to “narrow some gaps” in the lead-up to today’s meeting. He reiterated that today’s meeting is focused on discussing the implementation of the deal, as the framework has already been agreed on by both sides. He indicated that the talks will continue for another day as a lot of work remains before an agreement can be reached between Israel and Hamas.
However, Hamas is not there, though it is reportedly in contact with Egyptian and Qatari mediators. Osama Hamdan, a member of the political bureau of Hamas, told AP in an interview yesterday that Hamas will only participate if the talks focus on implementing a proposal detailed by U.S. President Joe Biden in May and endorsed internationally. “We have informed the mediators that … any meeting should be based on talking about implementation mechanisms and setting deadlines rather than negotiating something new,” said Hamdan. “Otherwise, Hamas finds no reason to participate.” Hamdan accused Israel of not engaging in good faith and said the group does not believe the U.S. can or will apply pressure on Israel to seal a deal.
