Gaza cease-fire talks deadlocked as Israel pulls out negotiators from Qatar

JERUSALEM

Indirect talks in Qatar between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas have reached a deadlock, according to Israeli media on Tuesday.

Israeli Channel 12 said the government has recalled its negotiating team from the Qatari capital, Doha.

"Israel will not cave to Hamas's delusional demands," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

It accused Hamas of being “not interested in continuing talks" after allegedly rejecting a US-brokered compromise.

Hamas said on Monday it is still sticking to the original proposal presented two weeks ago for a Gaza cease-fire. The Palestinian group said Israel’s response to the cease-fire proposal did not meet Palestinian demands.

Hamas demands an end to Israel’s deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip and the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the territory for any hostage-prisoner swap deal with Tel Aviv.

An Israeli delegation visited Qatar twice in the past week to negotiate a possible prisoner swap deal with Hamas and a cease-fire in Gaza, but no breakthroughs have been reached.

There was no comment from Hamas or Qatar yet on the Israeli statement.

Israel has waged a deadly military offensive on the Palestinian territory since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which killed nearly 1,200 people.

At least 32,414 Palestinians have since been killed and 74,787 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

On Monday, the UN Security Council passed a resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire in Gaza during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

While Hamas welcomed the resolution, Israel rejected the cease-fire call and vowed to continue its war on the Palestinian enclave.

The Israeli war, now in its 172nd day, has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara