Israeli security and policy officials were expected to descend on Qatar on Sunday for high-level talks on a proposed Gaza ceasefire that would see hostages released in the final days of President Biden's term and before Donald J. Trump takes office.
Biden administration officials have been seeking a deal that will be part of the outgoing president's legacy, and Mr. Trump warned that “all hell will break loose in the Middle East” if Hamas does not release hostages before Inauguration Day in January. 20.
Low-level talks have been underway in recent weeks after months of silence.
While some progress has been made, disagreements remain on several key points, including the timing and extent of Israel's redeployment and withdrawal from Gaza and its determination to end the war, according to several officials and a Palestinian familiar with the matter. They were talking but would like to remain anonymous because the talks were private and they were not authorized to talk about the details publicly.
Representatives of the outgoing and incoming US presidents have been working on the issue, the Biden administration said, while Qatar and Egypt are mediating between Israel and Hamas.
Steve Witkoff, who was Mr. Trump in the Middle East, met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Saturday. On Friday, Mr. Witkoff was in Doha, the capital of Qatar, and met with the prime minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, for talks that focused on efforts to end the conflict in Gaza, according to Qatar. foreign ministry.
The office of Mr. Netanyahu announced late Saturday that he had spoken with Israeli security officials and negotiators with both the outgoing and incoming US administrations. He also ordered senior Israeli negotiators – including David Barnea, head of the Mossad intelligence agency – to travel to Qatar to push the deal forward, Mr Netanyahu's office said.
Disagreements between Israel and Hamas remain over the key issue of the permanence of the cease-fire, and Mr. Netanyahu is not ready to declare an end to the war as part of the three-phase agreement that President Biden put forward last May.
Israel is insisting on a vague form that leaves room for ambiguity, according to Palestinians familiar with the matter and two Israeli officials. One official familiar with the matter said the Americans should give the mediators assurances that the United States will work to end the war, although Israel did not agree to any specific sentence.
Hamas also wants detailed maps from Israel showing where it will withdraw, but Israel has not provided them, according to officials and Palestinians familiar with the matter. They added that there is still disagreement about the timing of the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Philadelphia Corridor, a strip of land along the border between Gaza and Egypt.
Nearly 100 hostages were taken during a Hamas-led offensive in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, they are still in Gaza, about 250 were taken. Israel believes at least a third of the remaining hostages are dead.
Israel and Hamas have both shown signs of wanting to resolve the remaining issues, as pressure mounts from the United States and the Israeli public. Last week, Hamas representatives revealed that the group has approved Israel's list of 34 hostages to be released in the first phase of the deal.
But Israel said last week it had not received information from Hamas about the condition of the hostages from the list, which includes those it considers the most dangerous and urgent cases – women and children, men over 50 and a few sick or injured hostages. .
Israel has demanded a list from Hamas where their hostages are still alive. Otherwise, Israeli officials say, there will be no agreement on how many Palestinian prisoners Israel will agree to release in exchange for them. As of Sunday morning, Israel had not received a live list of the hostages, according to one of the officials familiar with the matter.
The body of one of the hostages whose name appeared on the list of 34 – Youssef Ziyadne, 53, an Arab citizen of Israel – was found last week by Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip along with the remains of his son, Hamza Ziyadne, who was also captured during the raid. -2023.
Israeli soldiers brought the remains of both men to Israel for burial.
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