US envoy in Qatar to join talks on the extension of the ceasefire

The White House envoy, Steve Witkeov, is in Qatar to join indirect talks between Israel and Hamas to extend the fragile ceasefire in Gaza.

This week, negotiators from both sides began at the intermediaries for the first time since President Donald Trump took office on January 20. The first stage of 42 days of the Gaza deal and the temporary calm entered into force on the eve of its inauguration.

Ultimately, this first stage witnessed that Hamas would restore 25 Israeli hostages and the remains of eight others – compared to about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel – as well as five biological hostages. It ended on March 1.

Israel now hopes that the United States will be able to apply for a two -month truce plan, which will start issuing about half of the hostages of the neighborhoods still detained.

Hamas has so far refused, calling for immediate talks on the second stage of the original ceasefire agreement, which will end the war and lead to the withdrawal of the full Israeli forces.

However, she mentioned that she is approaching the continuous discussions in Doha with “full and positive responsibility”.

Since the beginning of this month, Israel has banned all aid delivery operations – including food and fuel – to GazaSaying that it aims to pressure Hamas.

The electricity was also cut into the only water desalination factory in the region that provides clean waterSo that it is now operating with a reduced capacity on the generators using fuel reserves.

In response, the Houthi movement in Yemen said on Tuesday that it would restart the attacks on Israeli ships that pass through the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden, threatening to throw a main maritime road to chaos again.

There is an increasing warning of the potential impact of Israel to ban goods on Gaza, as some of its allies warn that this may violate international law.

“Any delay [on aid entering] It will reflect any progress we could achieve during the ceasefire. “

“We pray that these matters be resolved urgently,” Bakha, Qassam Rostom, told the BBC.

He said that his bakery – which was providing more than 2000 baking packages a day – was stopped with flour supply and cooking gas, forced to close in addition to several others in the southern city of Khan Yunis.

Zainab Al -Bayuk, Grandma said: “We have exhausted and tired of all this. It pushes us with madness.” She added that food prices were rising quickly.

Mariam Abu Mukhimer, a student, opposed the extension of the current truce. “There must be a solution that ends the war,” she said. “That’s enough!”

The United States has never confirmed this, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on March 2 that Wittouf suggested a temporary extension of the ceasefire even after the Islamic Ramadan and the Jewish holiday for Easter.

According to this plan, which Netanyahu said Israel accepted, half of the hostages will be launched at the beginning, and the other half in the end.

The Prime Minister suggested that Witkoff may “set his proposal as a corridor for negotiations on the second stage. Israel is ready for this.”

It is believed that Hamas still retains up to 24 neighborhood hostages in Gaza and the remains of 35 others. An Israeli American soldier, Aidan Alexander, 21, is among those who are alive. There are also the bodies of four other American citizens.

Hamas accused Israel of retracting the original ceasefire deal.

Despite the pressure from regional brokers – Qatar and Egypt – as well as the United States, the armed group is unlikely to give up many hostages without a full end to fight in Gaza. They see them as a major bargaining chips in the talks.

For relatives and supporters of the Israelis who were walking, these are desperate times.

Since Saturday, some have been haunting outside the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv to demand the immediate ceasefire deal in Gaza that would liberate everyone in captivity.

“How can I start dealing with our personal tragedy when the national shock has not yet ended?” Overi Pepas, Yarden Pepas’s sister, said in protest on Monday evening.

The recent exchanges with Hamas led to the launch of her brother and The return of the bodies of her sister, Sherry, and my nephew Shaban, Ariel and Kafir, who were killed in Gaza.

“I have 59 brothers and sisters in hell,” OFRI continued in reference to the total number of hostages. “We have received Yarden alive, but it was possible to save Sherry and children. According to Easter, everyone should be at home, and the only way to return everyone is to end the war. Now.”

A poll of the Israel TV TV indicates that half of the Israelis believe that the American president is more concerned about the hostage of the hostages than Netanyahu.

In response to a question about either of the two they believe he is more anxious, 50 % of the respondents said that Trump, 29 % Netanyahu, and the rest were not sure.

The allies of the far -right Prime Minister threatened the collapse of his ruling alliance if the fighting in Gaza was not resumed to achieve the goal of the war of crushing Hamas.

Until now, both Israel and Hamas have largely refrained from returning to comprehensive hostilities in the Palestinian territories.

However, recently, Israel has carried out daily strikes. On Tuesday, four men were killed in the Gaza Valley, also known as the Netzarim Pass – an area from which the Israeli forces withdrew as part of the conditions of the ceasefire in Gaza.

The Israeli army said that the Air Force was targeting “many terrorists who participated in a suspicious activity that poses a threat [Israeli] The forces.

Speaking to the BBC in Gaza City, App told one of the dead, Hannah’s stages, that his son, Omar, did not make any mistake.

He said he was with walking neighbors to the camp of the displaced, where they previously remained to restore property.

“They were innocent. They would have got ranks and other things. They were not carrying missiles!” The mother of Tareq Obaid, who lived near the men.

The new threats of the Houthis have the ability to end a period of relative calm in the broader area that started a ceasefire in Gaza on January 19.

Over the course of 15 months of November 2023, they used rockets and drones to attack more than 100 commercial ships, saying they were acting in solidarity with the Palestinians in Gaza. Many ships had no connection to Israel. Two drowned, one was seized, and four sailors were killed.

The Houthis say they now want to “pressure the Israeli rapist entity to reopen the crossings to the Gaza Strip and allow the entry of aid, including medical and medical supplies.”

However, there was no immediate sign to facilitate ships.

Hamas -led attacks on October 7, 2023 killed more than 1,200 people in southern Israel, mostly civilians, with 251 hostages. Most of the detained women and children were released during a week -long truce in November 2023.

The unprecedented deadly attack has led to a war in Gaza, which has since killed more than 4,8,500 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas Ministry of Health used by the United Nations and others.