Israel will begin negotiations on next phase of Gaza ceasefire this week, minister says

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel will begin indirect negotiations with the Palestinian militant group Hamas on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal this week and it demands a complete demilitarisation of the enclave, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday.

Negotiations for the second phase of the deal were supposed to start on February 2 but Qatar, who together with Egypt and the United States is mediating between the sides, said the talks have not officially started yet.

"It will happen this week," Saar told a press conference in Jerusalem.

Israel had given mixed signals in the past few weeks over its engagement in the talks over the next stage of the three-phased ceasefire, which came into effect on January 19 with the stated goal of permanently ending the Gaza war.

The ceasefire deal, which includes the return of 33 Israeli hostages in return for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, has remained on track despite a series of setbacks and accusations of violations that had threatened to derail it.

But negotiations over the second stage are expected to be tough, because they include issues like the administration of post-war Gaza, on which large gaps between the sides appear to persist.

"We will not accept the continued presence of Hamas or any other terrorist organisation in Gaza," Saar said.

But he added that if the negotiations are constructive, Israel will remain engaged and may prolong the first phase of the ceasefire, which is meant to last six weeks.

"If we will see there is a constructive dialogue with a possible horizon of getting to an agreement (then) we will make this time-frame work longer," Saar said.

So far, 19 Israeli hostages have been returned in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

Another 14 hostages, six of them believed to be alive, are slated for return in the first phase. Israel is trying to secure the release of the six living hostages on Saturday. Another four bodies of deceased hostages are expected to be handed over on Thursday.

The hostages were taken in the Hamas-led cross-border attack on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies.

Israel's retaliatory assault on Gaza has killed more than 48,000 Palestinians, according to Palestinian health officials, laid waste to much of the enclave, and displaced hundreds of thousands.

An Israeli official said Israel will also start allowing the entry of mobile homes for those Gazans forced to shelter from the winter weather among the ruins left by the 15 months of Israeli bombardments.

Hamas has accused Israel of delaying the delivery and had threatened to postpone the release of hostages until the issue was resolved.

The fragile ceasefire deal has also been overshadowed by U.S. President Donald Trump's call for Palestinians to be moved out and for Gaza to be taken over as a waterfront development under U.S. control.

The plan has been rejected by Palestinian groups, Arab states and Washington's Western allies who say it is tantamount to ethnic cleansing. Israeli leaders have argued that Gazans who want to leave the devastated enclave should be allowed to do so.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said on Monday he will set up a new unit in his ministry dedicated to facilitating the exit of Gaza residents who want to move to a third country, after reviewing an initial plan for it.

(Reporting by James Mackenzie and Maayan Lubell; Writing by Nayera Abdallah and Maayan Lubell; Editing by Ed Osmond, Alison Williams and Angus MacSwan)