While the statement fell short of specifying the country where the next talks will be taking place, they come following numerous rounds of negotiations that took place both in Qatar and Egypt.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is sending a negotiation team on Thursday to restart talks in a bid to secure a captives release deal.

In a statement on Sunday, Netanyahu’s office said the decision came after “an in-depth discussion” that he held “with the hostage negotiation team and senior security establishment officials.”

While the statement fell short of specifying the country where the next talks will be taking place, they come following numerous rounds of negotiations that took place both in Qatar and Egypt.

Reports on July 9 had said talks were scheduled to take place in Doha with the United States, Egypt and Israel in an effort to secure a ceasefire and a captives release deal.

An Egyptian source told Al-Qahera News at the time that Israel and Hamas agreed “on many points.” Israeli media reports last week also claimed that an Israeli delegation was headed to Qatar for talks.

Israel has intensified its brutal onslaught against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip for nearly 300 consecutive days, killing nearly 39,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children. 

Protests in Tel Aviv have also been pressuring Netanyahu to agree to a deal, with the captives’ families saying he has been obstructing the deal with Hamas.

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado that a ceasefire deal was in sight and the negotiators were “driving toward the goal line.”

“I believe we’re inside the 10-yard line and driving toward the goal line in getting an agreement that would produce a ceasefire, get the hostages home and put us on a better track to trying to build lasting peace and stability,” Blinken said.

New massacre in Khan Younis

On Monday, Israel committed another massacre in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, killing at least 27 people while injuring dozens others, mostly women and children. 

Palestine’s news agency, Wafa, reported that Israeli warplanes bombarded the area after ordering the population to evacuate to Al-Mawasi in the west, where Israel committed another massacre last week. At least 90 Palestinians were killed.

Local sources told Wafa that the Israeli occupation forces did not provide civilians time to evacuate.

The war displaced at least 1.9 million people out of the Gaza Strip’s population of 2.1 million – down from the United Nations’ initial estimate of 2.3 million, following the deaths and exodus of people.

Southern Gaza was initially declared a safer zone by the Israeli occupation forces before ordering more than one million internally displaced people to evacuate the area. 

Israel then invaded the densely populated city of Rafah in May, where it destroyed the vital Gaza-Egypt Rafah Crossing.

The destruction of the crossing disrupted the flow of aid and urgent medical evacuations. Aid has barely reached Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war, where fewer than 200 trucks crossed over from the Rafah border on a daily basis. 

The figure is significantly less than the pre-war daily average of 500 trucks, which included fuel.

On Sunday, Israeli occupation forces opened heavy fire on a UN aid convoy that was heading to Gaza City, despite it being clearly marked with the organisation’s name. Israel has been widely slammed for weaponising starvation as a tool of war.

Netanyahu in Washington

Meanwhile, Netanyahu is scheduled to head to Washington, D.C. for he a Tuesday meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden, who has just pulled out of the presidential race. On Wednesday, the Israeli prime minister is set to address Congress.

The U.S. has militarily backed Israel’s ongoing war in the Gaza Strip, which South Africa had accused as a genocide, under the pretext of its right to self-defence, despite the majority of those killed being civilians.

Numerous investigations, including one by Amnesty, have found the U.S. complicit in the war in the besieged enclave. Washington has previously used its veto power to block at least three UN Security Council resolutions that called for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

Israel’s war has also triggered flare ups across the Middle East, particularly in Yemen, Lebanon and Syria, raising concerns over the region’s stability.