Enlarge image
Aid supplies are being dropped from the air over Gaza City
Photo: AFP
According to media reports, the indirect negotiations over a temporary ceasefire and the release of hostages are facing new difficulties.
Israel does not want to take part in a new round of talks brokered by Egypt, Qatar and the USA as long as Hamas does not provide a list of the still living hostages, the news portal “Axios” reported in the evening.
The terrorist organization from the Gaza Strip has also not yet given an answer regarding the number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons proposed by the mediators that Israel would release in return for the release of a certain number of hostages.
All of these questions remained unanswered even after three days of talks in the Qatari capital Doha, the portal quoted an unnamed Israeli official as saying.
A next round of negotiations should take place in Cairo next week.
However, Israel will not take part as long as Hamas does not answer the outstanding questions, said the Israeli source.
According to media reports, the mediators' proposal is that a six-week ceasefire should, if possible, come into force before the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which begins around March 10th.
During this time, 40 Israeli hostages were to be exchanged for around 400 Palestinian prisoners.
Hamas still holds 134 hostages that it took to the Gaza Strip along with other extremist groups during an attack on southern Israel on October 7th.
According to Israeli estimates, around 100 of them are still alive.
The terrorists also killed 1,200 people in the unprecedented massacre.
Israel responded with massive air strikes and a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip.
Meanwhile, the US Wall Street Journal reported, citing Egyptian sources, that Hamas had frozen its communication with mediators because of the deaths of more than 100 Palestinians in clashes over aid deliveries.
Desperate people stormed an aid convoy in the northern Gaza Strip on Thursday.
While the Palestinian side said that Israeli soldiers had deliberately fired into the crowd, the Israeli military blamed the chaos and crowds for the deaths.
US President Joe Biden announced in the evening that he would airdrop aid supplies into the Gaza Strip.
The US would do everything it could to bring more aid supplies to the coastal strip, Biden said.
Current aid deliveries to the Gaza Strip are not nearly enough.
The US also continued to work towards a ceasefire that would allow more aid to be transported to the area.
czl/dpa/Reuters