Israel-Hamas truce talks expected to restart

CAIRO, Mar 16 (AP/Reuters/BBC): Stalled talks aimed at securing a cease-fire in the war between Israel and Hamas are expected to restart in earnest in Qatar as soon as Sunday, according to Egyptian officials.
The talks would mark the first time both Israeli officials and Hamas leaders joined the indirect negotiations since the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
International mediators had hoped to secure a six-week truce before Ramadan started earlier this week, but Hamas refused any deal that wouldn't lead to a permanent cease-fire in Gaza, a demand Israel rejected.
In recent days, however, both sides have made moves aimed at getting the talks, which never fully broke off, back on track.
Hamas gave mediators a new proposal for a three-stage plan that would end the fighting, according to two Egyptian officials, one who is involved in the talks and a second who was briefed on them. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to reveal the contents of the sensitive discussions.
The first stage would be a six-week cease-fire that would include the release of 35 hostages - women, those who are ill and older people - being held by militants in Gaza in exchange for 350 Palestinian prisoners being held by Israel.
Hamas would also release at least five female soldiers in exchange for 50 prisoners, including some serving long sentences on terror charges, for each soldier. Israeli forces would withdraw from two main roads in Gaza, let displaced Palestinians return to north Gaza, which has been devastated by the fighting, and allow the free flow of aid to the area, the officials said.
Nearly one in three children under 2 years old in the isolated north are suffering acute malnutrition, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF reported Friday.
In the second phase, the two sides would declare a permanent cease-fire and Hamas would free the remaining Israeli soldiers held hostage in exchange for more prisoners, the officials said.
In the third phase, Hamas would hand over the bodies it's holding in exchange for Israel lifting the blockade of Gaza and allowing reconstruction to start, the officials said.
Israel approves plan
to attack Rafah
Israel on Friday approved a potential assault on the Gaza city of Rafah while also keeping ceasefire hopes alive with plans to send another delegation to Qatar for talks on a possible hostage deal with Islamist militant group Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said he had ok'd a plan to attack the city on the southern edge of the shattered Palestinian enclave where more than half of its 2.3 million residents are sheltering after five months of war.
Global allies and critics have urged Netanyahu to hold off attacking Rafah, fearing mass civilian casualties. But Israel says it is one of the last strongholds of Hamas whom it has pledged to eliminate and that residents will be evacuated.
Aid reaches Gaza shore
in first sea delivery
The first maritime humanitarian aid shipment to Gaza has been unloaded on to the shore. The US charity behind the mission, World Central Kitchen, is carrying out the mission in co-operation with the United Arab Emirates.
The shipment contained 200 tonnes of food desperately needed for Gaza, which the UN says is on the brink of famine. Aid agencies have accused Israel of impeding aid deliveries, a charge vehemently denied by Israeli officials.
They say Israel is allowing aid through two crossings in the south and has blamed aid agencies of logistical failures.
Much of the Gaza Strip has been devastated during the Israeli military operations that began after Hamas gunmen attacked southern Israel on 7 October, killing about 1,200 people and seizing 253 hostages.
More than 31,400 people have been killed in Gaza since then, the Hamas-run health ministry says.
Saturday's shipment arrived on board Spanish charity ship Open Arms. Its cargo includes beans, carrots, canned tuna, chickpeas, canned corn, parboiled rice, flour, oil, salt and pallets of dates, which hold spiritual significance during Ramadan.
It had been checked by Israeli officials in port in Cyprus.
It marks the start of a trial to see if the sea route would be more effective than air and land deliveries.
Aid agencies have repeatedly warned that no method of relief is as effective as delivery by land, but they say Israeli restrictions mean a fraction of what is needed is getting in.