JERUSALEM

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Friday that Israel will send its negotiation team on Aug. 15 to finalize the details of a hostage exchange agreement with Palestinian resistance factions in the Gaza Strip.

“Pursuant to the proposal by the US and the mediators, Israel will – on 15 August – send the negotiations team to a place to be determined in order to finalize the details of the implementation of the framework agreement,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

There was no immediate comment from the Palestinian group Hamas on the statement.

On Thursday evening, leaders from Egypt, Qatar, and the US called on Israel and Hamas to resume negotiations in Doha or Cairo on Wednesday or Thursday.

This call follows the assassination of Hamas’ political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, which has negatively impacted the resumption of negotiations between the two sides.

Last Saturday, the Israeli negotiation team left Cairo shortly after arriving, according to the daily Yedioth Ahronoth.

The team returned to Tel Aviv due to disagreements with Netanyahu, although the nature of these disagreements was not specified.

For months, Egypt, Qatar, and the US have been leading indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, but no agreement has been reached due to Israel’s refusal to meet Hamas’ demands to end the war, withdraw troops from Gaza, and allow displaced Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.

Israel has continued a devastating military offensive in the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.

Nearly 39,700 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 91,700 injured, according to local health authorities.

Over 10 months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi