The foreign minister of Israel’s far-right government, Gideon Saar, has said negotiations to begin the second phase of the ceasefire on Gaza will go ahead. During his press briefing, Saar said: ‘We had yesterday night a security cabinet meeting. We decided to open negotiations on the second phase. It will happen this week’
Talks on the second phase of the ceasefire were meant to begin 3 February, to ensure a smooth transition from phase one, which ends at the beginning of March. The second phase would involve Israel accepting a permanent end to fighting and the release of its remaining hostages.
Saar said that Israel wouldn’t accept the Palestinian Authority’s presence in Gaza whilst Hamas still operates as an armed group in the territory
