Hamas has softened its place in its newest Gaza cease-fire proposal however is sticking to a key demand that has been a serious hurdle to a deal, in response to two senior officers from nations concerned within the negotiations.
That has dampened prospects for an imminent settlement, at the same time as U.S. and Israeli officers have expressed optimism now that the talks are shifting ahead after weeks of impasse.
Hamas offered a counterproposal on Wednesday. The 2 officers stated that Hamas wished worldwide assurances that, as soon as an preliminary truce kicks in, each side will maintain negotiating till they attain a closing deal to finish the battle and free the entire hostages remaining in Gaza.
In impact, Hamas needs to make sure that it doesn’t flip over most of the hostages just for Israel to restart the battle, one of many officers stated. Each senior officers spoke on the situation of anonymity as a result of they weren’t licensed to talk publicly.
Israeli negotiators instantly rejected that demand, the 2 officers stated. Israel needs the choice to renew combating if it deems it needed. With out such leverage, Hamas may drag its toes, successfully acquiring an undeclared everlasting cease-fire, one of many officers argued.
On the coronary heart of the dispute is the query of the way forward for Gaza. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, has vowed to destroy Hamas and topple its rule within the Palestinian enclave. Hamas hopes {that a} everlasting cease-fire will permit it to cling to energy.
Israel’s army leaders now more and more say {that a} deal to deliver house the remaining 120 hostages is the precise manner ahead, even at the price of leaving Hamas in energy in the meanwhile.
The talks are primarily based on a three-stage framework first publicized by President Biden in late Might and later endorsed by the United Nations Safety Council.
Either side agree on the broad outlines of a deal that would come with a six-week cease-fire and the discharge of many of the civilian hostages in change for Palestinian prisoners.
In the course of the pause, Israel and Hamas would negotiate the following step: an finish to the battle and the discharge of the remaining residing hostages, most of them troopers.
The controversy now could be over what comes subsequent.
With a attainable deal coming collectively, William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director, will journey within the coming week to Doha for conferences with intelligence chiefs from Israel, Europe and different nations to debate the cease-fire deal, in response to two folks briefed on the negotiations.
Mr. Burns may even possible journey to Israel to maintain stress on the Israeli authorities to take a deal.
American officers imagine the present revisions to the deal, laying out exact situations to maneuver between phases of the settlement, could possibly be sufficient to start to launch the hostages after months of captivity.
However even when Israeli negotiators might attain a deal that will finish the battle in Gaza, it’s unclear whether or not Mr. Netanyahu’s authorities would again it. Two senior members of his coalition have dominated out a full cease-fire and Mr. Netanyahu himself has publicly zigzagged on whether or not he endorses the framework.
About 120 hostages stay in Gaza out of roughly 250 folks kidnapped within the Hamas-led assault, in response to Israel. About one-third of them are presumed useless by the Israeli authorities.
Throughout a weeklong truce in November, 105 have been freed in change for 240 Palestinian prisoners, however Hamas has refused to launch any extra hostages with no path to a everlasting cease-fire.
On Friday, an Israeli delegation led by David Barnea, the pinnacle of the Mossad intelligence company, arrived in Qatar for the primary time in weeks to carry additional talks. Mr. Barnea met with the Qatari prime minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, who has served as one of many primary mediators.
However, in an uncommon association, Mr. Barnea didn’t arrive with different senior Israeli safety chiefs working to hammer out the deal. He was accompanied by Ophir Falk, a detailed aide to Mr. Netanyahu, the 2 senior officers stated.
The Israeli army and Shin Guess intelligence service, each of which take part within the negotiations, declined to remark.
Hamas did make one key concession in its counterproposal, softening its stance on the phrases of negotiations for the second section of the cease-fire. The group had wished to maintain these talks targeted solely on which Palestinian prisoners can be launched in change for hostages.
The concession adopted weeks of stress on Hamas by Qatar, which hosts a lot of the armed group’s political management in Doha, the officers stated.
However on the identical time, Hamas demanded assurances from mediating nations, together with the USA, that the talks through the truce would proceed till a everlasting cease-fire was negotiated and all residing hostages have been launched, the 2 officers stated.
Israeli negotiators had already agreed the six-week truce could possibly be prolonged so long as the talks have been progressing. Hamas’s new phrasing could possibly be learn as permitting these negotiations — and the preliminary truce — to proceed indefinitely, one of many senior officers stated.
In the course of the conferences in Qatar, Mr. Barnea argued that Hamas’s demand can be a elementary break from the proposal adopted by the U.N. Safety Council and by Mr. Biden, the senior official stated.
