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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is again sending a delegation for high-level negotiations. Archive image.
1 / 3Photo: Abir Sultan/Poolfoto Via AP/TT
Israel sits down at the negotiating table again, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gives the go-ahead for continued ceasefire talks.
The talks appeared to have been put on hold alongside the Security Council’s sharp demands.
Netanyahu has notified Ronen Bar and David Barnea, the top heads of Israel’s Shin Bet security service and Mossad intelligence service, respectively, that they will be mandated to participate in the negotiations.
The negotiations, which take place through mediators in Qatar and Egypt, have been going on for several months without any agreement being reached. On Monday, the UN Security Council finally called for an “immediate ceasefire”, after Israel’s closest ally the United States refrained from vetoing a resolution.
Israel does not comply with the resolution and during the week airstrikes against and ground battles in Gaza have continued.
Flew home this week
Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas have accused each other of making too unreasonable demands.
Qatar announced on Tuesday that the negotiations had not yet been concluded, but since then not much has been said. Mossad chief David Barnea flew home to Israel earlier this week.
An Israeli delegation is still in the Qatari capital, Doha, but it is made up of lower-level officials.
One of Hamas’s top leaders in exile, Khaled Mashal, said in an appearance on Wednesday that the movement will not release all its hostages until Israel ceases hostilities, withdraws all forces from the Gaza Strip and ends its blockade of the Palestinian territory. He then indicated that Hamas is still focused on talks, in a “negotiation battle that is at least as intense” as the war.
“Possible to bridge”
Israel believes that the Security Council gives Hamas hopes that the movement will be able to get its demands through without releasing the hostages. Hamas believes that Israel is deliberately slowing down the negotiations by making demands for releases without promising any clear end to the war.
The US claims that progress has been made behind the scenes.
– But when you make progress, it is usually the remaining issues that are the most difficult, said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller on Wednesday.
– We believe that it is possible to bridge those differences.
FACT Five months of war
Hamas, labeled a terrorist, attacked Israel on the morning of Saturday, October 7. More than 1,100 people are estimated to have been killed in the attack, most of them civilians, and more than 200 people were taken hostage.
Israel responded by declaring war. They have besieged Gaza, bombed the area persistently and entered with ground forces with the stated aim of destroying Hamas.
According to Hamas-controlled authorities, more than 32,600 people have been killed in Israeli strikes in Gaza since the outbreak of war. Large parts of the area’s buildings have been razed to the ground and aid organizations are raising the alarm about severe famine.
According to Israel, around 100 people are still being held hostage by Hamas. In addition, several of the hostages have died during their time in captivity.
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