The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation said, on Wednesday, March 27, 2024, that indirect negotiations are continuing between Israel and the Hamas movement to reach an agreement to exchange prisoners and ceasefire, while the main dispute centers on the return of the displaced to the northern Gaza Strip.

This comes the day after Israeli media reports that the negotiations had reached a dead end, and that Tel Aviv had summoned its negotiating delegation from the Qatari capital, Doha.

Truce negotiations in Gaza are continuing

The Broadcasting Corporation quoted unnamed sources in Israel that “despite Hamas’s negative response to the proposal regarding an exchange deal (for prisoners), negotiations with the movement are continuing,” while a senior Israeli official said that “the United States is continuing to communicate with the Egyptian and Qatari mediators.” 

A major point of contention in the truce negotiations

An informed foreign source, who was not named by the Commission, said, “The main point of disagreement revolves around the return of the displaced to the northern Gaza Strip, but it is still possible to reach a settlement.”

The Israeli bombing forced about two million Palestinians to flee their areas in the Gaza Strip, which has been besieged by Israel for 17 years and is inhabited by about 2.3 million people in catastrophic conditions.

According to an informed Israeli source, “reaching a compromise regarding the return of the displaced was possible, but the (Israeli) delegation was not authorized to resolve the issue.”

Earlier, the Hamas resistance movement held Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responsible for the failure of the negotiations, and said that it informed the mediators of its adherence to the vision it presented on March 14.

This vision includes 4 main points: a comprehensive ceasefire, the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip, the return of the displaced, and a real exchange of prisoners.

Tel Aviv holds at least 9,100 Palestinians in its prisons, and estimates that there are about 134 Israeli prisoners in Gaza, while Hamas announced that 70 of them were killed in random Israeli raids.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, leaving tens of thousands of civilian casualties, most of them children and women, and massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly, according to Palestinian and UN data.

Israel continues this war despite the issuance of a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire during the month of Ramadan, and despite being tried for the first time before the International Court of Justice on charges of committing “genocide.”