OCCUPIED JERUSALEM: Israel is due to send a delegation to Qatar on Monday for a fresh round of talks on extending a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, after cutting off the electricity supply to ramp up pressure on Hamas.
The first phase of the deal expired at the beginning of March with no agreement on subsequent stages that should secure a lasting end to the war.
There are still differences over how to proceed, with Hamas calling for immediate negotiations on the next phase, while Israel prefers an extension of phase one.
Israeli media said the Israeli delegation will be led by a top official from the domestic security agency Shin Bet.
Israel has halted aid deliveries to Gaza amid the deadlock, and on Sunday announced it was cutting off the electricity supply to the territory.
“We will use all the tools at our disposal to bring back the hostages and ensure that Hamas is no longer in Gaza the day after” the war, Energy Minister Eli Cohen said as he ordered the power cut.
The move echoed the early days of the war when Israel announced a “complete siege” on Gaza, severing the electricity supply which was only restored in mid-2024.
Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanoua said cutting off electricity will impact Israeli hostages still held in Gaza.
“The decision to cut electricity is a failed option and poses a threat to its (Israeli) prisoners, who will only be freed through negotiations,” Qanoua said in a statement on Monday.
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The sole power line between Israel and Gaza supplies the Palestinian territory’s main desalination plant, and Gazans now mainly rely on solar panels and fuel-powered generators to produce electricity.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians are now living in tents across Gaza, where temperatures reach a low of about 12 degrees Celsius (54 Fahrenheit) at night.
Top Hamas official Izzat al-Rishq said the Israeli decision “to cut off electricity to Gaza, after depriving it of food, medicine, and water” was a “desperate attempt to pressure our people and their resistance”.
‘Long-term truce’
Hamas has repeatedly demanded that the second phase of the truce – brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States – include a comprehensive hostage-prisoner exchange, a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a permanent ceasefire and the reopening of border crossings to end the blockade.
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Spokesman Hazem Qassem told AFP that Hamas wanted the mediators to ensure Israel “complies with the agreement… and proceeds with the second phase according to the agreed-upon terms”.
Former US president Joe Biden had outlined a second phase involving hostage release and the withdrawal of all Israeli forces left in Gaza.
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US envoy Adam Boehler, who held unprecedented direct talks with Hamas officials in recent days, told CNN on Sunday that a deal could be reached “within weeks” to secure the release of all remaining hostages, not just the five dual Israeli-US nationals, most of who have been confirmed dead.
The US envoy told CNN a “long-term truce” was “real close”, but in an interview with Israel’s Channel 12 that aired later on Sunday, he said Washington would back any Israeli decision, including a return to war.
‘Nothing available’
In late February, US President Donald Trump had issued what he called a “last warning” to Hamas, threatening further destruction if the group does not release all remaining hostages.
An earlier proposal from Trump to expel Palestinians from Gaza prompted Arab leaders to offer an alternative reconstruction plan without displacement.
The initial 42-day phase of the truce, which began on January 19, reduced hostilities after more than 15 months of relentless fighting that displaced nearly all of Gaza’s 2.4 million people.
During this period, 25 living Israeli hostages and eight bodies were exchanged for the release of about 1,800 Palestinians in Israeli custody.
The truce also allowed in much-needed food, shelter and medical assistance.
After Israel cut off the aid flow on March 2, UN rights experts accused the government of “weaponising starvation”.
At a UN distribution of flour in Jabalia, northern Gaza, Abu Mahmoud Salman, 56, said that with the territory now closed off from fresh supplies, “there is nothing available”.
“The markets are empty… prices are high, and there is no income. The situation in Gaza is difficult,” he told AFP.
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