A top-level Israeli security delegation arrived in Qatar on Sunday for talks on a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, a spokesperson for Israeli prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu said.
Qatar and fellow mediators Egypt and the United States are making renewed efforts to reach a deal to halt the fighting in the enclave and free the remaining hostages held there before US president-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20th.
Netanyahu’s office said on Saturday that the delegation includes Mossad head David Barnea, the head of the Shin Bet domestic security service, Ronen Bar, and the military’s head of the hostage brief, Nitzan Alon.
Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, met Netanyahu on Saturday, having met on Friday with Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
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Israeli and Palestinian officials have said since Thursday that some progress has been made in the indirect talks between Israel and militant group Hamas but did not elaborate. The sides have been keeping a tight lid on the details being worked out.
It is unclear how they will bridge one of the biggest gaps that has persisted throughout previous rounds of talks: Hamas demands an end to the war while Israel says it won't end the war as long as Hamas rules Gaza and poses a threat to Israelis.
It was not immediately clear when Barnea would travel to Doha, but the US is pressing for a deal before Trump takes office. Barnea’s presence means high-level Israeli officials who would need to sign off on any agreement are now involved.
In an interview with National Public Radio, William Burns, the director of the CIA, said the White House was working to reach a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas before Trump’s inauguration.
“Negotiations going on right now are quite serious and do offer the possibility, at least, of getting this done in the next couple of weeks. This administration will work very hard at that right up until January 20th,” Burns said.
The CIA director’s interview took place as Israel and Hamas appeared to be edging closer towards a ceasefire and hostage release deal.
Hamas said on Monday that it had given mediators a list of 34 Israeli captives who were seized during the group’s attack on Israel on October 7th, 2023 that triggered the war, and who could be freed as part of the “first phase of a prisoner exchange deal”.
“I’ve learned the hard way not to get my hopes up about the ceasefire hostage negotiations,” Burns said. “I do think there remains a chance to get a deal. The gaps between the parties have narrowed.”
Several rounds of talks mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar have failed to produce a lasting ceasefire. Officials have repeatedly voiced optimism that a breakthrough was close only for the negotiations to founder.
Just one brief ceasefire has been achieved in 15 months of war, in the earliest weeks of fighting. The talks mediated by the US, Egypt and Qatar have repeatedly stalled since then.
Hamas insists that any negotiations to secure the release of hostages must form part of a comprehensive pact to end the hostilities in Gaza, while Netanyahu is seeking a more segmented agreement, aiming for a deal that would see the liberation of some, though not all, hostages, while simultaneously preserving Israel’s prerogative to recommence hostilities against Hamas upon the deal’s expiration.
In recent weeks, the issue of the hostages and a ceasefire agreement have been at the heart of an intensive debate in the Israeli media. Critics accuse Netanyahu of deliberately stalling the deal, ostensibly to await Trump’s assumption of office.
Western intelligence services estimate that at least a third of the remaining 95 or so Israeli captives in Gaza have been killed. Despite the latest talks, Israel has stepped up air strikes on the Palestinian territory, which killed at least 100 people last weekend, local health officials said.
The Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported that Netanyahu “is betting that Trump’s pressure campaign will bring Hamas to its knees”, but said “the prime minister has been wrong many times before about the impact of different events on the group’s negotiating positions”.
Kobi Michael, a senior researcher at the Israeli think tank the Misgav Institute for National Security and Zionist Strategy, told Agence-France Presse earlier this week: “I cannot foresee significant progress until President Trump assumes office.”
Trump’s return to office could prove advantageous for Netanyahu’s expansionist policies, particularly regarding settlement expansion and potential annexation in the West Bank.
Trump has said there will be “hell to pay” if Hamas does not release its hostages before he takes office, suggesting he is seeking a deal before the inauguration day.
Conditions in Gaza, where almost all of the population of 2.3 million are living in makeshift accommodation, are deteriorating in the face of cold and wet winter weather, which has caused flooding.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza has killed at least 46,537 Palestinians and wounded 109,571 since October 7th, 2023, the Palestinian territory’s health ministry said on Saturday. About 1,200 Israelis were killed and 250 taken hostage in the Hamas attack. – Reuters, Guardian
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