DOHA: Gaza talks mediator Qatar said that it hoped Israel and Hamas could be brought to a new phase of negotiations for a peace deal in the Palestinian territory following their October ceasefire agreement. "We think that we should be pushing the parties to stage two very, very soon," Qatar foreign ministry spokesman Majed al Ansari said. "That includes, of course, the issues that are complicating the situation, like the fighters in the tunnels behind the Yellow Line, like the incidents that take place every couple of days," he added.
During the first phase of the Gaza peace plan, initially outlined by US President Donald Trump, Hamas and its allies were due to return all 48 hostages they held captive, 20 of whom were still alive. Hamas has said the process of retrieving the bodies has been slow because the bodies have been under the vast piles of rubble left by two years of war. "As we have always said, the logistical situation in Gaza would certainly make it difficult to reach this result," Ansari said, referring to the return of the bodies. — AFP
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