The China Mail - Israel PM sets out red lines for lasting end to war in Gaza

But Netanyahu said the Islamist militant group needs first to give up its weapons and its capacity to govern, warning that failure to reach a deal on Israel's terms would plunge the territory into further conflict.

Netanyahu's comments came in a video message from Washington, where efforts to secure a 60-day halt in the 21-month war have dominated his talks with US President Donald Trump, who is hoping for an agreement within days.

Indirect negotiations have been taking place all week between the two sides in Qatar, and the militants have agreed to free 10 of the 20 hostages still alive in captivity since the October 2023 attack which sparked the war.

Sticking points remain, not least Hamas's demands for the free flow of aid into Gaza and Israel's military withdrawal from the territory, while it also wants "real guarantees" on a lasting peace, the group said.

Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said "progress has been made" but admitted in an interview with Austrian newspaper Die Presse that ironing out "all complex issues" would likely take "a few more days".

There was no agreement yet on the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released in exchange for hostages, he told the newspaper.

He said that "initially, eight hostages are to be released, followed by two more on the 50th day" of the 60-day ceasefire. "Additionally, 18 bodies of hostages are to be handed over," he was quoted as saying.

Saar too said a lasting ceasefire would be discussed but added: "There are still major differences, especially regarding the question of how Hamas will be prevented from controlling Gaza after the war."

Asked if Israel would be willing to grant Hamas leaders safe passage into exile, he said: "Yes, we will offer that."

- 'Fundamental conditions' -

Netanyahu, who is under domestic pressure to end the war as military casualties mount, said disarming and neutralising Hamas were "fundamental conditions" for Israel.

"If this can be achieved through negotiations, great," he said. "If it cannot be achieved through negotiations within 60 days, we will have to achieve it through other means, by using... the force of our heroic army."

Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim told AFP earlier on Thursday that it would not accept "the perpetuation of the occupation of our land" or Palestinians being herded into "isolated enclaves" in the densely populated territory.

The group was particularly opposed to Israeli control over Rafah, on the border with Egypt, and the so-called Morag Corridor between the southern city and Khan Yunis, he added.

Israel announced earlier this year that the army was seizing large areas of Gaza and incorporating them into buffer zones cleared of their inhabitants.

Naim said the group also wanted an end to the current delivery of aid by a US- and Israel-backed group, a system which has seen scores of people killed while seeking food rations.

- Blood and screams -

On the ground, Gaza's civil defence agency said eight children were among 17 people killed in an Israeli strike outside a medical clinic in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

"The ground shook beneath our feet and everything around us turned into blood and deafening screams," said Yousef Al-Aydi, who was in the queue for nutritional supplements when he heard a drone approaching then a blast.

Rabih Torbay, the head of US medical charity Project Hope which runs the facility, called it "a blatant violation of humanitarian law, and a stark reminder that no one and no place is safe in Gaza, even as ceasefire talks continue".

The UN children's agency said one of the victims was a one-year-old boy who according to his mother had uttered his first words only hours earlier.

Israel's military said it had struck a Hamas militant in the city who had infiltrated Israel during the 2023 attack and that it "regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals".

Overall, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said at least 57,762 Palestinians, most of them civilians, have been killed since the start of the conflict.

Hamas's October 2023 attack led to the deaths of 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

A total of 251 hostages were seized in the attack. Forty-nine are still held in Gaza, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

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