Gaza truce negotiations to resume in Doha
A Palestinian official familiar with the talks and close to Hamas said international mediators had informed the group that "a new round of indirect negotiations... will begin in Doha today". The talks would focus on conditions for a possible ceasefire, including hostage and prisoner releases, and Hamas would also seek the reopening of Gaza's Rafah crossing to evacuate the wounded, the official said.
Hamas's delegation, led by its top negotiator Khalil al Hayya, was in Doha, the official said. Israel's public broadcaster said the country's delegation had left for the Qatari capital in the early afternoon. In Tel Aviv on Saturday, protesters gathered for a weekly rally demanding the return of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack, which triggered the war. Macabit Mayer, the aunt of captives Gali and Ziv Berman, called for a deal "that saves everyone".
Two Palestinian sources close to the discussions said the proposal included a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release 10 living hostages and several bodies in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel. However, they said, the group was also demanding certain conditions for Israel's withdrawal, guarantees against a resumption of fighting during negotiations, and the return of the UN-led aid distribution system.
On the ground, Gaza's civil defence agency said 14 people were killed by Israeli forces on Sunday. The agency said 10 were killed in a pre-dawn strike on Gaza City's Sheikh Radawn neighbourhood, where images showed Palestinians searching through the rubble for survivors with their bare hands.
Meanwhile, in the West Bank city of Tulkarem, the landscape has been transformed after Israeli army bulldozers ploughed through its two refugee camps in what the military called a hunt for Palestinian gunmen. The army gave thousands of displaced residents just a few hours to retrieve belongings from their homes before demolishing buildings and clearing wide avenues through the rubble. Now residents fear the clearances will erase not just buildings, but their own status as refugees from lands inhabited by generations of their ancestors in what is now Israel. The "right of return" to those lands, claimed by Palestinian refugees ever since the creation of Israel in 1948, remains one of the thorniest issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The army said it would demolish 104 more buildings in the Tulkarem camp this week in the latest stage of an operation that it launched in January during a truce in the Gaza war, billing it as an intensive crackdown on several camps that are strongholds of Palestinian armed groups fighting against Israel. It began with a raid on the northern West Bank city of Jenin, a longtime stronghold of Palestinian gunmen, and quickly spread to other cities, including Tulkarem, displacing at least 40,000 people, according to UN figures.
In Tulkarem, the Israeli army's bulldozers ploughed through the dense patchwork of narrow alleyways that had grown as Palestinian refugees settled in the area over the years. Three wide arteries of concrete now streak the side of Tulkarem camp, allowing easy access for the army. Piles of cinder blocks and concrete line the roadside like snowbanks after a plough's passage. — AFP
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Nabil Hajlaoui, Ambassador of France to Oman On the occasion of the French National Day, I would like to express my gratitude to the Omani authorities and the Omani people for their warm welcome, as well as to the French community and to all friends of France in Oman. I took up my duties in this friendly country one year ago, and since then I have experienced the friendship between France and the sultanate, between the people of France and the people of Oman every single day. After arriving in Oman in August 2024, I was quickly given the honour to present my credentials to His Majesty Sultan Haitham bin Tarik to whom I would like to express my sincere gratitude for his warm welcome and his guidance on deepening the historic and fraternal bilateral relations between our two countries. I would also like to extend my most sincere thanks to H E Sayyid Badr bin Hamad al Busaidi, Foreign Minister, for his constant support and friendship, as well as to all the representatives of the Government and Administration in Oman, who spare no effort to further enhance the excellent relations between France and the sultanate. Like Oman, France remains committed to the resolution of conflicts through negotiation, a position that has been reiterated by the President of the French Republic, Emmanuel Macron, with regard to Ukraine, Iran and Gaza. That is why in the recent period, the French President has called His Majesty the Sultan twice by telephone, in particular to thank him for the role played by the sultanate in the release of a French national detained in Iran. Indeed, the international law remains our compass, thus I expressed France's full support for the negotiation processes that were conducted by Omani authorities under the aegis of H E Sayyid Badr between Iran and the United States. I also reiterate France's call for an end to the tragedy of the Palestinian population in Gaza, for the immediate resumption of humanitarian aid distribution and for the release of all hostages. We must give both Israelis and Palestinians a political perspective that will allow peaceful coexistence and security for all. It is in this spirit that a conference will be held in New York on the two-state solution, following a French initiative supported by its Arab and international partners. These French positions were also expressed by a high-profile parliamentary delegation from the France-Gulf Friendship Group, which met in Muscat with the highest figures in the Omani legislative sphere last April. The past year has also been very fruitful and active in terms of developing economic relations, strategic cooperation, and scientific and cultural cooperation between France and Oman. Recently, French companies such as TotalEnergies and EDF Power Solutions have invested €2bn in Oman in key energy sectors in support of Oman Vision 2040. In May 2025, the MARSA LNG project in Suhar was inaugurated, representing the largest foreign investment of the year in Oman. More than 40 French companies in all major sectors are present in Oman, investing and contributing to the development of the sultanate's economy and creation of jobs for Omanis as part of the Omanisation programme. These elements gave us the opportunity in October 2024 to host an important mission of MEDEF International, France's largest business association. The mission was composed of numerous French companies interested in the opportunities offered by the Omani economy, which is resolutely committed to an unprecedented diversification thanks to its Vision 2040 plan. It is also in support of a closer economic cooperation that we had the honour of welcoming in Oman a delegation from Normandy in early 2025, led by the president of the region and including many business representatives, who forged promising links with public and private companies of the sultanate and strengthened equestrian cooperation between France and Oman, both of which excel in this field. Our strategic and defence cooperation is also very intense: the visit of the Chief of Staff of the French Armed Forces, who met his Omani counterpart in early 2025, was an opportunity to reinforce our relationship of trust and to renew France's commitment both in terms of reciprocal training and operational cooperation. Our cooperation is also intense and is being strengthened year by year in many other fields like education with the establishment of higher education scholarships in France, co-financed by both countries; medicine with Omani doctors being sent to France to specialise; justice with a significant increase in cooperation between magistrates, particularly in the fields of training and exchange of expertise; health with the recent signing of a memorandum of understanding between French and Omani institutions in the field of cancer treatment; and space with the positioning of very high-level French offers in the satellite sector, a particularly promising field in Oman. France in Oman relies mainly on its diplomatic team, as well as on the French-Omani Centre, the French International School in Muscat, the French Omani Friendship Association, the French Foreign Trade Committee and the French-Omani Joint Business Council for raising high our common ambitions and shared values. I would like to express my gratitude to all of them for their commitment to fostering excellent relations between our two countries. It is therefore with pleasure and pride that I extend my sincerest wishes for success and prosperity to all our Omani friends, our fellow citizens residing in Oman, as well as to all friends of France who recognise themselves in our values of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity.
