Unprecedented direct talks between the US and Hamas are a sign of dysfunction in fraught negotiations to prolong a truce in Gaza, analysts said Thursday.

Washington revealed it held talks with Hamas, which it designates as a "terrorist" organisation, amid a standoff between Israel and the Palestinian militant group over how to proceed with the ceasefire, whose first phase expired last weekend.

The direct contact is "a sign of a breakdown in mediation for a wider ceasefire", geopolitics expert Neil Quilliam said, calling the move "symptomatic" of United States President Donald Trump's "impatience with complex and timely negotiations".

Israel "must be concerned that his maverick approach to policy could undermine their immediate interests", Quilliam added.

"After all, the US president has already thrown a number of key allies under the bus," said Quilliam, associate fellow at the Chatham House think-tank's Middle East and North Africa Programme.

James Dorsey, another Middle East specialist, said the direct........

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