JERUSALEM
The Israeli War Cabinet decided to postpone sending a negotiating delegation to the Qatari capital Doha until it gets a response from the Hamas movement on the proposal pushed by US President Joe Biden, said state-run media.
“The War Cabinet has decided to postpone sending the delegation to Doha until Hamas responds to the Israeli proposal revealed by President Biden,” the Israeli Broadcasting Authority said Wednesday evening.
The authority did not specify when the decision was made, although the War Cabinet’s latest meeting was held at the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in East Jerusalem on Tuesday to discuss the escalation between Israel and Hezbollah.
On Friday, Biden said Israel presented a three-phase deal that would end hostilities in Gaza and secure the release of hostages held in the coastal enclave. The plan includes a cease-fire, a hostage-prisoner exchange, and the reconstruction of Gaza.
Netanyahu, however, said Monday that he was “not ready to stop” the war on Gaza, calling Biden’s remarks about the cease-fire proposal “inaccurate.”
Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas mediated by the US, Qatar, and Egypt have so far failed to agree on a permanent cease-fire in Gaza.
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
Nearly 36,600 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 83,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.
Nearly eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.
