GAZA CITY, Mar 01 (AFP): The first phase of the Israel-Hamas truce is drawing to a close on Saturday, but negotiations on the next stage, which should secure a permanent ceasefire, have so far been inconclusive.
The ceasefire took effect on January 19 after more than 15 months of war sparked by Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, the deadliest in the country's history.
Over the initial six-week phase, Gaza militants freed 25 living hostages and returned the bodies of eight others to Israel, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
A second phase of the fragile truce was supposed to secure the release of dozens of hostages still in Gaza and pave the way for a more permanent end to the war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had sent a delegation to Cairo, and mediator Egypt said "intensive talks" on the second phase had begun with the presence of delegations from Israel as well as fellow mediators Qatar and the United States.
But by early Saturday, there was no sign of consensus, and Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said the group rejected "the extension of the first phase in the formulation proposed by the occupation (Israel)".
He called on mediators "to oblige the occupation to abide by the agreement in its various stages". Max Rodenbeck, of the International Crisis Group think tank, said the second phase cannot be expected to start immediately.
"But I think the ceasefire probably won't collapse also," he said. The preferred Israeli scenario is to free more hostages under an extension of the first phase, rather than a second phase, Defence Minister Israel Katz said.
US okays sale of $3b in
munitions to Israel
The United States on Friday announced the approval of the sale of more than $3 billion in munitions, bulldozers and related equipment to Israel, which used American-made weapons to devastating effect in densely populated Gaza.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio signed off on the sales of $2.04 billion in bomb bodies and warheads, another $675.7 million in other bomb bodies and guidance kits, and $295 million in bulldozers and related equipment, the US Defense Security Cooperation Agency (DSCA) said.
Rubio "has determined and provided detailed justification that an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale to the government of Israel of the above defense articles and defense services in the national security interests of the United States," DSCA said.
That results in the waiver of the usual requirement that such sales be approved by Congress, it said.
"The United States is committed to the security of Israel, and it is vital to US national interests to assist Israel to develop and maintain a strong and ready self-defense capability," DSCA added.
