A question mark hangs over the future of ceasefire negotiations between Israel and Hamas, and the success of the truce may come down to the US, according to the head of a UK-based rights group.

Gershon Baskin, Middle East director of the International Communities Organisation, and a former hostage negotiator, told Al Jazeera that talks on the second phase of the agreement have yet to begin, with Israel dispatching a junior team to Doha, Qatar, that has no authority to negotiate.

“Netanyahu has not sent the heads of the [negotiating] team, he’s talked about changing the heads of the negotiating team, perhaps to take more control and limit the ability of the team to negotiate a deal,” Baskin said, ahead of the latest captives-for-prisoners exchange.

“But there’s no doubt that watching the hostages come home, being reunited with their families […] it is strengthening the will of the Israeli public to see that this continues, particularly with regard to those hostages that are still alive,” he added.