Hamas accepts ceasefire terms after Egypt, Qatar restart talks

Negotiators for the terror group agreed Monday to terms to enter a ceasefire, according to the Associated Press. Qatar led vigorous bilateral efforts with Egypt to broker a ceasefire deal to end the war in Gaza, Qatar’s foreign ministry said Monday. Israeli leaders still need to sign off on the agreement.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi met with Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani to discuss Gaza ceasefire negotiations. Joint mediation efforts are underway to stop the war in Gaza and end human suffering, Jassim Al Thani said Monday. Mediators hope to ensure safety for civilians and facilitate exchanges of prisoners and hostages, Qatar’s foreign ministry added.

What does the ceasefire include? Full details of the deal have not been released. The latest deal came after President Donald Trump called for Israel to confront and destroy Hamas. It’s the only way the remaining hostages will be returned, Trump wrote Monday.

The U.S. Department of State also stopped approving visitor visas from Gaza over the weekend out of concern that organizations facilitating the visas harbor Hamas ties. Officials planned to thoroughly review the visa process used to approve several temporary medical-humanitarian visas recently, the department said. A small number of visas have been given to children, but those children are accompanied by adults, State Secretary Marco Rubio told CBS on Sunday. The program needs to be paused to reevaluate how those visas are being vetted because we won’t have any links with groups that sympathize with Hamas, he said.

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for UN Secretary General António Guterres, emphasized the rising humanitarian needs among Gaza civilians. About 1.35 million Palestinians need emergency shelter, along with food and medical aid, Dujarric said during a Monday briefing. He also voiced concern that more civilian displacement and overcrowding would occur if Israel moved forward with its plan to occupy the region.

Dig deeper: Read Mary Jackson’s report in WORLD Magazine for more about the humanitarian situation in Gaza.