Israel agrees to resume Gaza truce talks on August 15

Jerusalem. Israel agreed Thursday to resume negotiations next week for a truce in the Gaza Strip and the release of hostages taken by Hamas, after mediators said there was “no more time to lose” in reaching an agreement.

Despite this modest progress, fighting continues in the Palestinian enclave, where 18 people were killed on Thursday by Israeli bombings of two schools, and fears persist that the conflict will spread to the Middle East.

“Following the proposal of the United States and the mediators, Israel will send a delegation of negotiators to a designated location on August 15 to finalize the details of a deal,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced in a statement on Thursday evening.

Earlier, Qatar, Egypt and the United States, mediators in this conflict, put pressure on Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas to resume talks on August 15 and “close all remaining gaps and begin the implementation of the agreement without further delay.”

In their statement, the countries said that a framework agreement already exists “with only the implementation details missing.” “There is no more time to waste and no excuses from either side to continue delaying it,” they said.

After ten months of war, indirect negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement only led to a brief truce in November, during which more than a hundred hostages taken by Hamas were released.

The latest move comes after the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in an attack in Tehran blamed on Israel that raised alarm bells about a broader conflict in the region.

Hamas’ new leader is Yahya Sinwar, the alleged mastermind behind the October 7 attack on Israel, raising fears that the arduous negotiations could become even more difficult.

In that attack, Hamas militants entered southern Israel and killed 1,198 people, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli data. Its fighters also took 251 hostages, of whom 111 are still held in Gaza, although 39 of them are believed to have died, according to the Israeli army.

Israel has retaliated by launching a military offensive in the Gaza Strip that has so far left 39,699 dead, according to the Ministry of Health of this territory governed by Hamas since 2007.