Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced on Thursday that the country would withdraw its whole negotiating team from ceasefire talks in Doha aimed at resolving the conflict in the Gaza Strip. This decision followed the recall of senior team members earlier in the week, leaving only the working-level representatives behind in Qatar. The move has drawn sharp criticism from the families of hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza, who strongly oppose the withdrawal. The current point of contention in the talks centers around Hamas’s demand for an end to hostilities in exchange for the release of the hostages. However, Israel insists that Hamas must disarm and its leadership must leave Gaza as conditions for agreeing to a ceasefire, which Hamas has refused to accept.
