TEL AVIV, March 16. /TASS/. Israel’s delegation will go to Qatar to resume the discussion of a deal with Hamas not earlier than March 18, the Kan radio station said.

According to the radio station, the Israeli cabinet will have a meeting on Sunday evening to discuss Israel’s position concerning Hamas’ proposals on the release of Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip.

Reuters said earlier in the day, citing its source that Mossad chief David Barnea is expected to resume talks on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egyptian officials on March 17 in Doha. The talks will focus on the outstanding differences between Israel and Hamas concerning the ceasefire, including the number of Palestinian prisoners to be potentially released in exchange for Israeli hostages and humanitarian deliveries to the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on March 15 that the Israeli side had turned down Hamas’ current proposal, saying that it is groundless. Israel will continue the negotiating process and will send a delegation to Doha, but it will be done "after the security cabinet discusses Israel’s position," the prime minister’s office said on the same day.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 240 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.

In late November 2023, Hamas announced an agreement with Israel, which was brokered by Egypt and Qatar, on a four-day humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip, which took effect on November 24. The sides extended the ceasefire several times but on the morning of December 1 the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that Hamas had violated the truce in Gaza and opened fire on Israeli territory, thus prompting the IDF to resume combat operations in the Gaza Strip.

During the week-long humanitarian pause, 110 people abducted by Hamas on October 7, 2023 were released.