Middle East: Gaza truce: Israel sends team to Doha on the eve of Trump-Netanyahu meeting

Israeli negotiators are due to travel to Doha this Sunday to discuss a possible agreement on a truce with Hamas in Gaza and the release of hostages, on the eve of a meeting in Washington between Benjamin Netanyahu and Donald Trump .

Meanwhile, the local Civil Defense announced the deaths of 14 Palestinians killed in new Israeli strikes in the besieged Palestinian territory, starving and devastated by nearly 21 months of war.

"Continue efforts"

On Friday, Hamas announced it was ready to "immediately engage" in negotiations on a US-sponsored truce proposal submitted by Qatari and Egyptian mediators, to which the movement said it had presented "its response," without providing further details.

The following day, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu 's office said it had been notified of "the changes Hamas is seeking to make to the proposal" and deemed them "unacceptable."

But the latter "gave instructions to respond to the invitation for indirect talks and to continue efforts to recover our hostages on the basis of the Qatari proposal that Israel has accepted," according to a statement. "The negotiating team will travel to Qatar tomorrow (Sunday)," the Israeli Prime Minister added.

According to Palestinian sources close to the talks, the proposal submitted to Hamas includes a 60-day truce , during which the movement would release 10 surviving hostages, as well as a number of bodies, in exchange for the release of Palestinians held by Israel.

"It's time to make a deal that saves everyone."

The changes Hamas is demanding, they say, include the terms of the Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza, the guarantees it wants to obtain on the cessation of hostilities after the 60-day period, and a resumption of control over the distribution of humanitarian aid by the UN and recognized international organizations.

Of the 251 people abducted on the day of the October 7 attack, 49 are still being held in Gaza, 27 of whom have been declared dead by the Israeli army.

US President Donald Trump , who is welcoming Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington on Monday, said an agreement could be reached "next week."

On Saturday, at a rally in Tel Aviv, the Hostage Families Forum called on Israeli leaders to reach an agreement that would release all the hostages at once. "It's time to reach an agreement that saves everyone (...)" said Macabit Mayer, the aunt of two hostages, Gali and Ziv Berman. "What god could compose such a list? And what does it mean for us: that only one is saved and the other remains captive?"