GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, July 12, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Indirect talks between Hamas and Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza are being held up by Israel's proposals to keep troops in the territory, two Palestinian sources with knowledge of the discussions told AFP on Saturday.

Delegations from both sides began discussions in Qatar last Sunday to try to agree on a temporary halt to the 21-month conflict sparked by Hamas's deadly October 2023 attack on Israel.

Israel has meanwhile kept up its strikes on Gaza and the territory's civil defence agency said more than 20 people were killed on Saturday, including in an air strike on an area sheltering the displaced.

"We all generally came here because we were told it was a safe area," Bassam Hamdan told AFP after the overnight attack in an area of Gaza City.

"While we were sleeping, there was an explosion... where two boys, a girl and their mother were staying. We found them torn to pieces, their remains scattered," he added.

In southern Gaza, bodies covered in white plastic sheets were brought to the Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis while wounded in Rafah were taken for treatment by donkey cart, on stretchers or carried, AFP photographs showed.

If an agreement for a 60-day ceasefire were reached, both Hamas and Israel have said 10 hostages taken in 2023 who remain alive in captivity would be released.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was prepared then to enter talks for a more permanent end to hostilities.

But one Palestinian source, speaking anonymously due to the sensitivity of the talks, said Israel's refusal to accept Hamas's demand to withdraw all of its troops from Gaza was holding back progress.

A second source said mediators had asked both sides to postpone the talks until the arrival of US President Donald Trump's special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in the Qatari capital.

"The negotiations in Doha are facing a setback and complex difficulties due to Israel's insistence, as of Friday, on presenting a map of withdrawal, which is actually a map of redeployment and repositioning of the Israeli army rather than a genuine withdrawal," the first source said.

- Enclave plans? -

They added that Israel was proposing to maintain military forces in more than 40 percent of the Palestinian territory, forcing hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians into a small area near the city of Rafah, on the border with Egypt.

"Hamas's delegation will not accept the Israeli maps... as they essentially legitimise the reoccupation of approximately half of the Gaza Strip and turn Gaza into isolated zones with no crossings or freedom of movement," they said.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli government.

The second Palestinian source accused the Israeli delegation of having no authority, and "stalling and obstructing the agreement in order to continue the war of extermination".

The Gaza war began after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of at least 1,219 people, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Of the 251 hostages seized, 49 are still being held, including 27 the Israeli military says are dead.

At least 57,882 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, have been killed since the start of the war, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.

Seven UN agencies warned in a joint statement on Saturday that if fuel runs out in Gaza, it would be "an unbearable new burden on a population teetering on the edge of starvation".

- Military operations -

The Israeli military said on Saturday it had attacked "approximately 250 terrorist targets throughout the Gaza Strip" in the previous 48 hours.

Targets included "terrorists, booby-trapped structures, weapons storage facilities, anti-tank missile launch posts, sniper posts, tunnels and 
additional terrorist infrastructure sites", it added.

Two previous ceasefires -- a week-long truce beginning in late November 2023 and a two-month one from mid-January this year -- led to the release of 105 hostages in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

The second Palestinian source said "some progress" had been made in the latest talks on plans for releasing Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and getting more aid to Gaza.

Netanyahu, who is under domestic and international pressure to end the war, said this week that neutralising Hamas as a security threat was a 
prerequisite for any long-term ceasefire talks.

That included the group giving up weapons, he said, warning that failure to do so would mean Israel would have to do so by force.