The Palestinian resistance group Hamas that controls Gaza has suspended talks with Israel for a prisoner swap deal, mediator Qatar reportedly told Tel Aviv on Thursday.
“Hamas told Qatari mediators that it demands a full Israeli troop withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and an end to the war on the first stage of any prisoner swap deal,” the Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported, citing a source familiar with the talks.
There was no immediate comment from Qatar on the report.
Hamas is believed to be holding nearly 136 hostages following its Oct. 7 cross-border incursion into Israel, killing around 1,140 people.
The Palestinian resistance group demands an end to Israel’s deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip for any deal on a prisoner swap with Israel.
The Israeli government has rejected calls for halting the Gaza war until destroying Hamas and releasing hostages.
Israel has launched a deadly offensive on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7, killing at least 25,700 Palestinians and injuring 63,740 others.
The Israeli war has left 85% of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while more than half of the enclave’s infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the U.N.
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