Israel set to send mediators to talks aimed at Gaza ceasefire

Dan Williams, Ethan Bronner, Fares Akram, Bloomberg News on Jul 5, 2025

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Israel will send a delegation aimed at restarting talks with Hamas, after the militant group said it was ready to “immediately” negotiate a proposal by U.S. President Donald Trump for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza.

Guy Levy, a spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud Party, confirmed on Saturday an Israeli television report that the delegation would travel to Doha, though he didn’t say when. Talks toward ending the war that began in October 2023 have been suspended since the spring.

A deal on the framework would see Hamas return half of the 50 hostages it still holds and pursue mediated talks with Israel to end the war. About 20 hostages are believed to be alive, and the deal under discussion would return 10 living and 18 dead hostages within those 60 days.

The proposal, which Netanyahu has accepted, will be one of the major topics during his visit to Washington where he will meet with Trump on Monday.

“The Hamas movement has completed its internal consultations and discussions with Palestinian factions and forces regarding the latest proposal put forward by the mediators,” Hamas said in a statement late Friday, adding that it viewed the proposal in “a positive spirit.”

An agreement would pause, if not end, a war between Iran-backed Hamas and Israel that has killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, devastated Gaza and destabilized the wider Middle East.

Trump said Friday that “there could be a Gaza deal next week,” and he was “very optimistic but it changes day to day.”

An Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Hamas’ reported positive response to the current proposal actually seeks changes in three key areas, including redeployment of Israeli troops in Gaza and control over humanitarian aid.

The official said Hamas’ requested changes were substantial and troubling and wouldn’t be easy to overcome. What’s needed, the official said, is U.S. pressure on Qatar to get Hamas to back down.

While Netanyahu’s government weeks ago agreed to the U.S. proposal, Washington and the other main mediators — Qatar and Egypt — couldn’t get the sides to overcome key sticking points. Hamas had said any ceasefire must end the war and also refused Israel’s demands to disarm and remove itself from power in Gaza.

Asked on Israeli television whether Israel might resume the war after the 60-day truce, Levy said that if Israel’s core end-of-war demands weren’t met “we will certainly continue.”

Israel has intensified military operations even as it agreed to talks. The army ordered tens of thousands of people to leave the outskirts of Gaza City since Tuesday and stepped up air strikes and incursions in the northern city, leading to an increase in the number of fatalities.

On Saturday, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an organization backed by Israel and the U.S. that is trying to take over aid distribution in Gaza to keep it out of the hands of Hamas, said grenades were thrown at those distributing aid, injuring two Americans. The two are in stable condition.

It was part of an ongoing struggle to control aid, which is seen as key to power and influence in Gaza, where hundreds of thousands are without sanitation or a steady source of food.