Israel, Hamas Resume Doha Talks on 60-Day Gaza Truce

Indirect negotiations aimed at halting the 21-month Israel-Hamas war reopened in Doha on Sunday, after both parties’ delegations arrived in the Qatari capital. Qatar is hosting the talks with support from the United States and Egypt. A Qatari foreign-ministry official said separate meetings with the Israeli and Hamas teams had begun, and that mediators were “cautiously optimistic” about bridging remaining gaps.

The discussions are centered on a U.S.-backed framework that would institute a 60-day cease-fire. In the first stage, Hamas would free 10 living Israeli hostages and hand over the remains of 18 others in exchange for the release of an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners and a gradual Israeli troop pullback. Hamas is also seeking UN-supervised aid distribution and assurances that fighting will not resume once the truce period ends. Israel has called several of Hamas’s latest amendments “unacceptable” but nevertheless dispatched its negotiating team, which includes officials from the Mossad, Shin Bet and the prime minister’s office.

The Doha round comes a day before Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu meets President Donald Trump at the White House. Washington has stepped up pressure for a deal as Israeli public anger over the fate of the remaining hostages intensifies and international concern mounts over Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe.

Hostilities continued while diplomacy resumed. Gaza health authorities said at least 33 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes over the past 24 hours, part of a death toll that the enclave’s ministry puts above 57,000. Israel’s campaign followed Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023 assault that killed 1,219 people and led to 251 abductions; Israeli officials say 49 hostages remain in Gaza. Mediators hope the Doha talks can produce the first sustained halt in fighting since two brief truces collapsed earlier this year.