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An Israeli negotiating team has reportedly extended its stay in the Qatari capital Doha, a day after the US envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff was in town to try and find a path forward between Israel and Hamas.

The deal reportedly on the cards is an extension of the ceasefire for up to 60 days in exchange for between five and 10 living Israeli captives held in Gaza.

While Hamas has previously rejected a similar deal, they may be more amenable after direct meetings between US hostage envoy Adam Boehler and top Hamas officials in recent weeks. Boehler had said that the meetings went well and suggested a deal was on the cards for a potential long-term ceasefire, prompting a backlash from Israel and pro-Israeli US politicians.

There are even reports that Boehler has been taken off the Israel-Gaza file, but those reports may be premature.

Let’s take a closer look.

What is the deal currently being negotiated?

A deal between Israel and Hamas had already been reached, which included three phases and was eventually to lead to a permanent ceasefire. The first phase involved a limited swap of Israeli captives and Palestinian prisoners, as well as a temporary ceasefire and Israel allowing an increased amount of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The details of the second phase were still to be negotiated, but the previous US administration of President Joe Biden made it clear that the first phase would continue until the second phase could be agreed upon.

Israel has ignored that, and while it has not restarted an all-out war on Gaza, it has threatened to do so, and blocked the entry of all humanitarian aid, as well as electricity.

At the start of March Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu introduced a new proposal, which he said had come from Witkoff – although the US envoy never publicly took ownership of it. Netanyahu’s office said the deal would see the ceasefire extended for six weeks and half of the captives in Gaza – dead and alive – released on the first day of the extension.

While that was initially rejected by Hamas, the current deal being negotiated in Doha appears to be similar, although critics still say that Netanyahu has no desire to end the war permanently, as he fears his government will collapse if he does so.

What about Boehler’s negotiations?

While Boehler’s remit only extended to the five Israeli-American captives, four of whom are believed dead, it seems that the direct talks held the possibility of not just securing a lasting ceasefire, but potentially the release of all captives held by Hamas.

Speaking to both Israeli and US media last Sunday, Boehler indicated that he had used the opportunity to engage with Hamas directly, gaining a commitment to maintaining a ceasefire of between five and 10 years, laying down its arms and relinquishing control of the Gaza Strip.

Boehler made clear that he had not coordinated with Israel before holding talks with Hamas, and added in an interview that the US was “not an agent of Israel” and had its own “specific interests at play”.

How has Israel reacted to news of the direct talks?

Not well.

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich told Israel’s Army Radio that unspecified Israeli officials had “made it clear to him]Boehler] that he cannot speak on our behalf, and if he wishes to negotiate on behalf of the United States, then good luck to him”.

Ron Dermer, Israel’s strategic affairs minister and a close confidante of Netanyahu, was reported to have repeatedly “lashed out” at Boehler the night before news of the talks became public.

The former head of the Israeli security service, the Shin Bet and current agriculture minister, Avi Dichter, also criticised the US initiative, telling Israeli radio the direct US-Hamas talks undermined Israeli negotiations. “It’s very dangerous when you undertake moves without knowing and without coordinating with the Israeli side”, Dichter said.

The Israeli campaign against Boehler continued in the press, with a Times of Israel editorial picking apart Boehler’s comments, branding the envoy “complacent, confused and dangerously naive”.

Has Trump abandoned Boehler?

When news of the US-Hamas talks emerged at the start of the month, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said that Trump backed them because they were “the right thing for the American people”.

But following Boehler’s comments to the press last Sunday, Israeli news reports emerged saying that the hostage envoy did not represent the White House’s position, and that Witkoff would continue to take the lead on negotiations.

Then, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose most important portfolios in Ukraine and the Middle East appear to have been taken by Witkoff, said on Monday that the talks were a “one-off situation” that had failed.

Reports on Thursday alternated between claims that said that Boehler would not be dealing with Israel and Gaza any more, and others that said he would continue to support Witkoff.

A report from Jewish Insider included quotes from several anonymous Republican senators berating Boehler, with one suggesting he had “lost all trust”.

Does that matter?

Until Trump himself speaks, it is hard to gauge what his true position on the matter is. It may be the case that he simply hasn’t decided yet.

But either way, the fact that the senators quoted did not want their names published may show that they are still hedging their bets and avoid being seen as second-guessing Trump.

The talks with Hamas, even if the US does not repeat them, are a sign that the Trump administration is taking the lead on Gaza, and is dragging Israel and Netanyahu along with them.

Israel is entirely reliant upon the US for both military and diplomatic support. Moreover, in light of Trump’s unexpected shrugging off of traditional US alliances, such as those with Canada and Europe, many within Israel are worried that Trump’s support for their war on Gaza may prove equally fickle.

Responding to news of the direct talks, the Israeli daily Haaretz speculated that the existence of US negotiations with Hamas was evidence of both Trump’s “frustration” with Netanyahu, as well as revealing of the US administration’s own objectives, principally: “freeing the hostages, ending the war, regional peace]and] Saudi capital”, which it was willing to “achieve … by any means”.

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The war in Sudan has exposed more than 12 million people to “pervasive” sexual violence that is being used to “terrify” the entire population, according to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

As the war nears the two-year mark, UNICEF executive director Catherine Russell told a UN Security Council meeting on Thursday that the number of women and girls – and increasingly, men and boys – at risk of rape and sexual assault had increased by 80 percent over the last year.

Referencing data analysed by UNICEF, Russell said that 221 cases of rape against children were reported in 2024 in nine states, with 16 of these cases involving children under the age of five and four involving babies under the age of one.

“The data only gives us a glimpse into what we know is a far larger, more devastating crisis”, said Russell. “Survivors and their families are often unwilling or unable to come forward due to challenges in accessing services, fear of social stigma, or the risk of retribution”.

Much of the meeting focused on the suffering of the 16 million children needing humanitarian assistance this year as a result of the continuing war between the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) and the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF).

The fighting erupted in April 2023 and has since killed tens of thousands, uprooted more than 12 million people and created the world’s biggest humanitarian crisis.

Russell cited more than 900 “grave violations” against children reported between June and December 2024, with victims killed or maimed in 80 percent of cases – mainly in the states of Khartoum, Al Jazirah and Darfur.

The meeting took place as the SAF accused the RSF of targeting civilians in the besieged North Darfur state capital of el-Fasher, killing five children under the age of six and wounding four women on Wednesday.

Fighting in el-Fasher has intensified in recent months, as the RSF tries to consolidate its hold on Darfur after army victories in central Sudan. The city is the only one of five state capitals in the vast Darfur region that is not under paramilitary control.

‘Hollow’

Christopher Lockyear, the secretary-general of Doctors Without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres, or MSF), accused the warring sides of not only failing to protect citizens but also “actively compounding their suffering”.

“The war in Sudan is a war on people, a reality that grows more evident by the day”, Lockyear said.

Lockyear also criticised the UN Security Council’s repeated calls for a ceasefire as “hollow”.

“This council’s failure to translate its own demands into action feels like abandonment to violence and deprivation”, he said.

“Whilst statements are being made in this chamber, civilians remain unseen, unprotected, bombed, besieged, raped, displaced, deprived of food, of medical care, of dignity”, he added

The ongoing violence led MSF last month to suspend all activities in the famine-stricken Zamzam refugee camp, located near el-Fasher.

Sudan’s UN Ambassador, Al-Harith Idriss Al-Harith Mohamed, told the Security Council that the Sudanese government has a national plan for the protection of civilians and claimed Lockyear did not raise any issues with him in a previous private meeting.

Reporting from the UN in New York, Al Jazeera’s Gabriel Elizondo said diplomats in the Security Council frequently harked back to the Jeddah Declaration, an agreement committing to protect civilians that was signed by warring parties in 2023 under the mediation of the United States and Saudi Arabia.

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