Hamas keeps away from Gaza ceasefire talks but will meet Negotiators later:

Hamas, which is a Palestinian military group, on Wednesday has said that they won’t be taking part in a fresh round of Gaza peace-talks which is scheduled for Thursday in Qatar. However, the official also said that they would expect the negotiators to meet the group at a later point of time.

US expects the talks to go as per the plan:

The US is expecting the ceasefire talks to go as per the plan in Doha which is capital of Qatar scheduled for Thursday, and they hope that an agreement of ceasefire is still possible while also cautioning that a progress was needed to prevent a war.

As per Axios, Antony Blinken has also delayed his trip to the Middle East which was scheduled to start on Tuesday. Karine Jean-Pierre who is the press secretary of the White house told the press that Bill Burns, director of CIA (Central Intelligence Agency) and Brett McGurk who is the US Middle East envoy would be appearing for Washington in Qatar for the truce talks scheduled to be held.

Iran and Israel’s reaction:

The senior officials of Iran have said that a truce deal in Gaza would hold them back from retaliating directly against them for the killing of Ismail Haniyeh in Iran, the previous month.

The Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer in a briefing said that the country would send the mediation team upon the date which was agreed upon for finalizing the details for implementing the agreement.

As per a defence official, the delegation would be led by David Barnea who’s the spy chief of Israel, Ronen Bar who’s the head of the Domestic Security Service and Nitzan Alon who is known as the Chief of Military hostages.

Iran v/s Israel:

The standoff between both countries have been increasing since the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh who was head of Hamas. He was killed on the soil of Iran.

While Hamas blames Israel for the killing of its chief, the latter has refused to comment either denying or taking responsibility. Whereas Iran has vowed ‘avenge’ for the assassination. Ismail Haniyeh was a significant figure in the mediation talks in the conflict. He was considered proximate  to Iran.

Iran has also refuted the calls from western countries including the UK to refuse to attack Israel. Keir Starmer the UK Prime Minister had urged the Iranian President to withdraw from the threats of an attack. However, as per Iranian state media, the Iranian President said that the retaliatory reaction was necessary to curb the crime and the legal right.

Hamas Skeptical about the talks:

Hamas has been skeptical about the mediation talks and also alleged Israel of halting the talks. Whereas Benjamin Netanyahu who’s the Prime Minister of Israel has hit back and said that Yahya Sinwar the political head of Hamas is the hindrance to the deal.

However, Hamas’s absence from the peace talks won’t derail the possibiltiy of progress as Khalil-al-Hayya who’s also the Chief Negotiator in Doha and the organization has also opened up its channels with countries like Egypt and Qatar.

Senior Hamas Leader Sami Abu Zuhri said that they are committed to the proposal which was presented on 2^nd July which was based on the resolution of the UN Security council and the speech of Biden. They also prepared to begin discussion immediately.

Israel-Hamas conflict:

After a deadly attack on Israel by Hamas in October 2023, there have been retaliatory attacks by the former. There have been negotiations going on ever since then.