‘Significant gaps’ remain in securing hostage deal, says Netanyahu

Israeli, Egyptian and American intelligence chiefs met with Qatari Prime Minister on Sunday to try to broker deal

Live updates: Follow the latest on Israel-Gaza

Talks to broker a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas were “constructive” but “significant gaps” remain, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following Qatar-brokered discussions in Paris on Sunday.

American, Israeli and Egyptian intelligence chiefs met Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman for the talks.

Some 130 hostages remain in the Gaza Strip since a four-day truce in November freed more than 100 others and secured the release of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli jails.

Cairo said a “phased but full” detainee swap and a permanent ceasefire in Gaza must form part of any agreement made between Israel and Hamas, sources told media ahead of the Paris summit.

Hamas has told Egyptian mediators it would not “entertain” any deal that omits a permanent ceasefire, release of all Palestinian detainees in Israel, and a phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, the sources added.

While Israelis continue to protest in favour of a ceasefire deal to secure the release of Israeli captives, the government has repeatedly rejected calls for a lasting ceasefire.

There are hopes the Paris meetings will usher in a two-month pause to the fighting in Gaza, which has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians in under four months.

That followed attacks by Hamas militants on Israeli communities on October 7, in which 1,200 people were killed and about 240 abducted.

Israeli attacks are now focused on the southern city of Khan Younis, where the last of Gaza’s hospitals are on the brink of shutting down.

Three people killed in Israeli fire on Al Amal Hospital and Palestine Red Crescent Society headquarters were buried in the hospital’s courtyard on Sunday, the humanitarian organisation said.

“This is due to the difficulty of transporting them to an official cemetery due to the ongoing blockade imposed on the hospital,” it wrote on X.

Two of the displaced people were killed on Sunday in front of the Red Crescent headquarters adjacent to the hospital, while the third was shot dead outside Al Amal’s emergency department on Saturday, said officials.

Oxygen supplies at the hospital have run out and doctors are no longer able to perform operations, the organisation warned.

About 150 people have been buried in a mass grave at the city’s Nasser Hospital, which is also under siege.

Air strikes continue across the rest of the Gaza Strip.

At least 23 people were killed in a strike on a family home west of Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Sunday evening.

It said Israel had killed 350 people in 38 “massacres” in the previous 48 hours, including at least 24 strikes on Khan Younis.