Israel-Hamas war: Netanyahu pulls negotiators from Qatar

Dec 03, 2023

World
Israel-Hamas war: Netanyahu pulls negotiators from Qatar

Tel Aviv [Israel], December 3: Israel said on Saturday that it has reached a "dead end" in negotiations in Qatar over an end to the fighting in Gaza and has ordered its team to leave the Gulf Arab country.
"Due to the dead end in negotiations, and following instructions from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mossad head David Barnea ordered the negotiating team in Doha to return home," a statement from Netanyahu's office published by the Times of Israel said.
"The Hamas group did not fulfill its obligations under the agreement that included releasing all the women and children that were on the list provided to Hamas that had authorized it," the statement continued.
Hamas: No prisoner exchange until cease-fire in Gaza
The prospect of further cease-fires in Gaza appeared bleak on Saturday after Israel recalled its negotiators from Qatar and Hamas' deputy leader said any further exchange of prisoners would only happen after the war ended.
Saleh Arouri told pan-Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera that any remaining hostages are men, "all of whom served in the (Israeli) army," currently or previously.
He said they would not be freed unless there was a truce and all Palestinian detainees were released.
"Let the war take its course. This decision is final. We will not compromise on it," Arouri said.
Netanyahu reportedly sees no role for Palestinian Authority in Gaza
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he does not see a role for the Palestinian Authority (PA) in post-war Gaza.
That is according to Israeli media reports on remarks Netanyahu made at a news conference in Tel Aviv, in which he condemned the PA, which governs parts of the occupied West Bank but not Gaza, which has been under the control of the Hamas group since 2007.
Netanyahu said the Palestinian Authority "pays murderers. They educate their children to hate Israel and, to my sorrow, to murder Jews, and ultimately for the disappearance of the State of Israel."
"I'm not prepared to delude myself and say that this defective thing, established under the Oslo Accords in a terrible mistake," should be allowed to govern Gaza, The Times of Israel quoted him as saying.
"We would be putting the same element - utterly unreformed, utterly unchanged - into Gaza, and that's what even the best of our friends suggest. I think differently. I oppose it," he said.
Netanyahu said Israel should take charge of Gaza's security and would have to do so for years to come.
Earlier in the day, US Vice President Kamala Harris said, "We want to see a unified Gaza and West Bank under the Palestinian Authority, and Palestinian voices and aspirations must be at the center of this work."
Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 from Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party and has ruled the enclave ever since.
UK to undertake surveillance flights over Israel and Gaza
The United Kingdom announced it will conduct surveillance flights over Israel and Gaza as part of hostage rescue efforts.
The surveillance aircraft "will be unarmed, do not have a combat role, and will be tasked solely to locate hostages," the Ministry of Defense said.
It said only information relevant to hostage rescue will be shared.
It did not give any additional details about the flights.
Source: Times Of Oman