Indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas are set to resume on Sunday in Doha, aiming for a Gaza truce and hostage release agreement ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House.

Netanyahu announced that he was sending a team to Qatar, a key mediator in the conflict, though he criticised Hamas’s latest response to a US-backed draft ceasefire deal, calling their demands “unacceptable.”

Under growing international and domestic pressure to end the war, now nearing its 22nd month, Netanyahu is expected to meet US President Donald Trump on Monday. Trump has recently made what officials described as a “renewed push to end the fighting.”

A Palestinian official close to Hamas told AFP that international mediators had informed the group that “a new round of indirect negotiations... will begin in Doha today.” According to the official, the talks would address conditions for a possible ceasefire, hostage and prisoner releases, and the reopening of Gaza’s Rafah crossing to evacuate the wounded.

Hamas’s delegation in Doha is led by its top negotiator, Khalil al-Hayya, while Israel’s public broadcaster reported that the Israeli delegation left for Qatar early Sunday afternoon.

Before his departure to the United States, Netanyahu met with Israeli President Isaac Herzog to discuss Gaza and ongoing efforts to expand ties with Arab states. He is scheduled to leave at 5:00 pm (1400 GMT).

In Tel Aviv on Saturday, protesters gathered for their weekly rally demanding the return of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, which sparked the war.

Macabit Mayer, the aunt of captives Gali and Ziv Berman, urged the government to finalise an agreement “that saves everyone.”