Palestinians inspect the destruction at a makeshift displacement camp following an incursion a day earlier by Israeli tanks in the area in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza strip, July 11, 2025. (Photo by AFP)

Doha, July 13 (RHC)-- Israel’s refusal to withdraw its forces from the Gaza Strip has hampered indirect ceasefire negotiations between the Palestinian resistance group Hamas and the Zionist Regime, according to a report.

Delegations from both sides began discussions in Qatar last Sunday to try to agree on a temporary halt to Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, which has been going on since October 7, 2023.  Both Hamas and Israel have announced that 10 living captives, taken during Hamas-led Operation Al-Aqsa Flood, would be released if an agreement for a 60-day ceasefire were reached.

But one well-informed Palestinian source told AFP on Saturday that Israel’s refusal to withdraw all of its troops from Gaza is holding back progress on securing an agreement.

“The negotiations in Doha are facing a setback and complex difficulties due to Israel’s insistence, as of Friday, on presenting a map of withdrawal, which is actually a map of redeployment and repositioning of the Israeli army rather than a genuine withdrawal,” the source was quoted as saying.

Hamas has said it wants a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, which is home to more than 2.3 million Palestinians.

However, the Israeli delegation presented a map at the negotiations, which proposed maintaining military forces in more than 40 percent of the besieged territory, the source told AFP.

“Hamas’s delegation will not accept the Israeli maps ... as they essentially legitimize the reoccupation of approximately half of the Gaza Strip and turn Gaza into isolated zones with no crossings or freedom of movement,” it added.

Mediators have asked both sides to postpone the negotiations until the arrival of US President Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Doha.  A second Palestinian source was also quoted as saying that “some progress” had been made on plans for releasing Palestinian prisoners and getting more aid to Gaza.

But they said the Israeli delegation has no authority, and is “stalling and obstructing the agreement in order to continue the war of extermination.”

According to Gaza’s Health Ministry, since Israel began its genocidal war on Gaza, it has killed at least 57,762 Palestinians and wounded 137,656.

[ SOURCE: PRESS TV and NEWS AGENCIES ]