Gaza Ceasefire Talks "Not Very Promising", Efforts to Go on: Qatar PM

The talks, which involved officials from the United States and Egypt, have so far failed to produce results as Hamas and Israel have highly diverging views, Aljazeera reported. 

“The pattern in the last few days is not really very promising but … we will always remain optimistic and will always remain pushing,” Sheikh Mohammed, who is also the foreign minister of Qatar, playing a key mediator, said at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

He added that since the scale of this proposed agreement is much larger than the one reached last year, which included a temporary ceasefire and exchange of prisoners, challenges are expected.

Osama Hamdan, a senior spokesperson for Hamas, told Al Jazeera: “The main point of disagreement is Netanyahu and his games. He is trying not to have any arrangements or agreements. That is clear.”

Hamdan added that Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh had shown a “positive position” towards negotiations and “willingness” to achieve a ceasefire in a statement on Saturday that said the group wants a complete cessation of Israeli attacks on Gaza.

Hawkish Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that the deal does not seem very close, vowing that he will push with plans to invade Rafah, a city bordering Egypt in southern Gaza and marking the last shelter for displaced civilians.

His remarks mark a defiance of international community that calls on Netanyahu to end the five-month genocide in the besieged enclave.

These Netanyahu remarks appear to have distanced the two parties from a truce deal.

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said that the deal should secure Israeli withdrawal and "lifting of the unjust siege." he blamed Israel for the lack of progress in Qatari-mediated talks.

Tel Aviv has been under pressure to stop the obvious genocide in Gaza that has already killed over 30,000 civilians, mainly women and children, and injured hundreds of thousands.