Israel-Hamas talks deadlocked as Trump envoy turns to Ukraine
In mid-January, the two sides agreed to a multiphase truce that would ultimately end Israel's military campaign against Hamas in Gaza and free the Israeli and foreign hostages held by Palestinian militants there. The cease-fire began with a six-week pause in the fighting, during which Hamas released more than 30 hostages in exchange for more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
During the initial phase of the truce, Israel and Hamas were meant to negotiate a second phase that envisioned an end to the war, the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, and the release of all of the surviving hostages still held in the territory.
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But the two sides remain far apart on how to move ahead. Israel is still vowing to destroy Hamas and is insisting on the demilitarization of Gaza. Hamas has largely refused to disband its armed battalions or surrender its Gaza leaders.
The 42-day first phase elapsed in early March without a deal on the second phase, although the fragile truce has held up so far without it, at least for now.
Critics in Israel have accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of dragging his feet on an agreement for fear it would loosen his grip on power. His far-right allies in the governing coalition are pressing to go on with the war against Hamas despite concerns from the families of the remaining hostages that their loved ones may not survive.
Up to 24 living hostages are still being held in Gaza along with the remains of more than 30 others who were taken captive, according to the Israeli government. Hamas seized about 250 people in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that killed about 1,200 people in Israel and ignited the devastating 15-month-war in Gaza.
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This month, Israel imposed harsh restrictions on humanitarian aid entering Gaza, barring the entry of food and other much-needed goods. Israeli authorities later cut off electricity to a waste water treatment center in Gaza.
That has prompted fears of a resurgent humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The widespread wartime deprivation had eased somewhat since the cease-fire, and trucks of aid had begun to enter freely.
Qatar, which has been brokering the truce alongside Egypt and the United States, has criticized the Israeli decision to close crossings to aid as a violation of the cease-fire agreement.
Also on Thursday, a United Nations commission accused Israel of targeting hospitals and other health facilities in the Gaza Strip that provide reproductive services, including an in vitro fertilization clinic where thousands of embryos were destroyed, in what it called an effort to prevent Palestinian births.
The report by the UN Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, called that and other actions that cause harm to women and girls 'genocidal acts' and accused Israel of punishing Palestinians collectively for the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, attack.
Israel's mission to the United Nations in Geneva immediately rejected the report, saying in a statement that the commission was engaged in 'a shameless attempt to incriminate' the Israeli military 'to advance its predetermined and biased political agenda.' Netanyahu accused the UN Human Rights Council of attacking the country with 'false accusations.'
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The commission said its report drew on earlier investigations it had carried out since the Hamas attack on southern Israel and on some 25 interviews conducted over recent months with medical experts, as well as victims and witnesses of the violence in Gaza. Some of the testimony was aired over two days of hearings in Geneva this week.
The report marked the first time a UN committee has found that Israel has committed genocidal acts under the Rome Statute, which created the International Criminal Court, and under the international treaty that criminalizes genocide.
The Israeli military's bombardment and invasion decimated Gaza's health care system in a way that aid groups and international bodies have called 'systematic.' The report said this included damage to clinics and other facilities that provide maternity services affecting more than 500,000 women and girls of reproductive age in Gaza.
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