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With little progress in the indirect talks between Israel and Hamas in Qatar, experts consulted by Al-Monitor argue that newly confirmed US-Hamas negotiations offer the strongest hope yet for a breakthrough in the Gaza conflict. While the Trump administration has characterized the meetings as a "one-off" event with no tangible results so far, the talks nonetheless raised Palestinian expectations ahead of US special envoy Steve Witkoff’s visit to Doha this week.

While Witkoff, who arrived in Doha on Tuesday for talks, is focused on extending Gaza’s fragile ceasefire, Arab states last week turned their attention to post-war reconstruction and governance. 

The Arab summit in Cairo last Tuesday adopted an Egyptian-led plan for Gaza’s reconstruction, which proposes a six-month transitional period under a committee of nonpartisan Palestinian technocrats that will govern the Strip. Although the Ramallah-based leadership has shown little enthusiasm for the plan, it has not publicly rejected it.