Israel and Hamas Continue Talks on Ceasefire and Hostage Deal

There is renewed movement between Israel and Hamas regarding a possible ceasefire and hostage deal.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dispatched a team of negotiators to meet with Hamas on Thursday.

The head of Israel’s Foreign Intelligence Service (Mossad), David Barnea, reportedly met with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Tani in Doha.

The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement on Friday that negotiations would continue next week, Reuters reported.

This is seen as the first step in a complex series of talks aimed at finally settling differences between the Israeli government and Hamas.

Following Mossad Director Barnea’s departure from Doha, an Israeli statement said that differences of opinion between the two sides continued. Israeli officials had previously said that expectations should be lowered.

US President Joe Biden presented a new three-stage proposal to end the war in Gaza on May 31.

Hamas’ demand for a permanent ceasefire and Israel’s counter-demand that it should have the freedom to continue fighting in Gaza if necessary have so far prevented negotiations from being concluded.

Biden’s proposal aims to resolve this impasse and suggests that a permanent ceasefire should not be reached immediately, but rather through a temporary 6-week ceasefire and continued negotiations.

Hamas officials reportedly responded to this proposal, but the exact content of that response is not yet known.

Israel’s response is reported to be much more positive than the various other proposals presented in recent months.

A source in Israel’s negotiating team said the response offered by Hamas contained “a very significant breakthrough”.

It is thought that Hamas may have accepted a key point of Biden’s proposal.

If this information is true and it turns out that Hamas has indeed made concessions on this point, the ball will be back in Netanyahu’s court.

Netanyahu has never backed down from his stance on the complete destruction of Hamas and Israel’s right to continue fighting in Gaza.

But the pressure on the Israeli prime minister is growing.

A New York Times report, citing unnamed current and former security officials, said Israel’s top generals “want to initiate a ceasefire in Gaza, even if it keeps Hamas in power for now.”

On the other hand, the pressure on Hamas continues.

It is reported that the civilian population in Gaza is growing hopeless about the continuation of the war.

In the international arena, mediators such as Egypt and Qatar may be running out of patience.

Regional countries that support Palestine are also reportedly putting increasing pressure on Hamas to accept the ceasefire agreement.

The possibility that the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah could escalate into an all-out war worries the rest of the international community.

The Israeli army launched a war to “eliminate” Hamas in response to an October 7 attack in southern Israel in which an estimated 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.

More than 38,000 people have been killed in Gaza since 2006, according to the Health Ministry.