A senior Hamas official and two Palestinian sources close to indirect negotiations with Israel have denied Israeli media reports that Gaza ceasefire talks are progressing.
"So far, no progress has been made in the ongoing indirect talks in Doha between Hamas and Israeli delegations," a Palestinian source told AFP.
"We hope that the mediators will succeed in putting pressure on Israel to propose an acceptable withdrawal map (for the Israeli army), which guarantees an effective withdrawal, and not just a redeployment of Israeli military forces" in the Gaza Strip, the same source added, noting that no new map was presented.
Israeli media, including public broadcaster Kan, reported earlier today that progress had been made in the scope of the Israeli military withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, devastated after 21 months of war.
"The occupier (Israel) has not yet submitted any new or revised maps regarding the withdrawal of the army from the Gaza Strip. What it claims about new maps is false," Bassem Naim, a member of the political bureau of the Palestinian Islamist Movement, told AFP.
Naim assessed that the Israeli delegation was engaged in the negotiation process only to preserve its image in the Israeli media and reduce international pressure on Benjamin Netanyahu's government.
According to him, "Israel has no intention of ending the war, contrary to what it claims in the ongoing negotiations in Doha and what it tells the mediators."
Another Palestinian source, very close to the negotiations, also told AFP that negotiations had stalled, particularly over the issue of who would distribute aid in Gaza.
The Israeli delegation refused to change the distribution mechanism, which is currently managed by a US-backed organization with which the United Nations refuses to cooperate, the source added.
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