Hamas announced Saturday that a team from the Palestinian militant organisation met with mediators in Cairo and that there were “positive” indications that talks for the second phase of the precarious ceasefire in Gaza had begun.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced that a delegation would travel to Doha on Monday to negotiate a truce.
According to a statement by Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanoua, “efforts of the Egyptian and Qatari mediators are ongoing to complete the implementation of the ceasefire agreement.”
He added, “The indicators are positive regarding the start of negotiations for the second phase,” but he did not elaborate.
Netanyahu’s office announced in a statement issued on Saturday, March 8, 2025, that Israel would “send a delegation to Doha on Monday to advance the negotiations” after accepting an invitation from mediators supported by the United States.
After six weeks of relative peace, which included the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian inmates, the first phase of the truce in Gaza came to an end on March 1. However, extensive violence has not returned.
Hamas has demanded a move to the second phase, which should bring the war to a permanent stop, even though Israel has stated that it wants to prolong the first phase until mid-April.
The second phase of the ceasefire was discussed by Egyptian authorities and a high-level Hamas delegation on Saturday. The fighting in Gaza has been mostly stopped by the truce for over 15 months.
In the statement, Al-Qanoua discussed the “necessity of obligating the mediators to ensure Israel implements the agreement,” and he added that “Hamas affirms its readiness to begin negotiations for the second phase to meet the demands of our Palestinian people.”
In the first phase, around 1,800 Palestinian inmates detained in Israel were released in exchange for the surrender of 25 living hostages and eight bodies.
The Israeli military has announced that 34 of the 251 prisoners abducted during Hamas’ October 7, 2023, onslaught on Israel that started the conflict are dead, while 58 are still in Palestinian territory.
