Gaza truce talks reportedly stall despite Netanyahu-Trump meeting share.google
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A Palestinian official says key sticking points at the indirect negotiations in Qatar include how aid will be distributed.
Negotiations between Israel and Hamas in Qatar on a new Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal have stalled after three days of indirect talks, a Palestinian official has told the BBC.
The official said key sticking points included how aid would be distributed during the ceasefire and Israeli troop withdrawals.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting the US and hopes of a deal had been raised as he had an unscheduled second meeting with President Donald Trump on Tuesday.
US special envoy Steve Witkoff also said they were now "down to one" unresolved issue at the Doha talks and that he was hopeful of an agreement on a 60-day ceasefire by the end of this week.
A Palestinian official with knowledge of the negotiations told the BBC on Wednesday that they remained stalled.
According to the official, the impasse is due to the Israeli delegation's refusal to allow the unrestricted entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza through UN agencies and other international organisations.
Israel was insisting on maintaining what the official described as "the current humiliating mechanism" for aid distribution – a reference to the US- and Israel-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), which uses private security contractors to bypass the UN.
The source also noted that Israel continued to reject calls for the withdrawal of its forces from areas of Gaza it has occupied since 18 March – when Israel resumed its offensive, collapsing the last ceasefire – further complicating progress in the negotiations.
As these details are being thrashed out in Doha, on the ground in Gaza at least 20 people were killed in overnight Israeli strikes on a tent in the southern Khan Younis area and on house in al-Shati refugee camp, north-west of Gaza City, according the Hamas-run Civil Defence agency.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military.


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