Negotiations between the Jewish State and the Palestinian movement finally indirectly resumed this weekend, after several days of uncertainty. According to the first information available, the discussions focus particularly on the release of hostages held captive in Gaza since the attack of the Palestinian movement on Israeli soil on October 7, 2023.
Hamas says it is ready to release 34 hostages
Indeed, Hamas affirmed on Sunday that it was ready to release 34 Israeli hostages held in Gaza during the “first phase” of an agreement with Israel. A Hamas official told AFP that the Islamist group had “agreed to release 34 Israeli prisoners from a list provided by Israel in the first phase of a prisoner exchange deal.” This list, he specified, includes “all women, the sick, children and the elderly” among the Israeli hostages. “Hamas and the resistance groups need about a week of calm to communicate with the kidnappers and identify the (hostages) dead or alive,” added the official, who requested anonymity.
But the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated in a statement that “contrary to what has been reported, Hamas has still not provided a list of hostages.” “Israel has not yet received confirmation or response from Hamas on the conditions of the hostages mentioned on the list,” the Israeli prime minister’s office said. “The list of hostages that was published in the media was not provided by Israel to Hamas, but initially by Israel to the (negotiations) mediators in July 2024,” the prime minister’s office clarified. On Saturday, Hamas increased pressure on Israel at the negotiating table, publishing a video of hostage Liri Albag, 19. The girl’s family called on Benjamin Netanyahu to seize the opportunity to reach a ceasefire deal, describing the images as having “torn our hearts into pieces”.
During the attack on October 7, 2023, which resulted in the death of more than 1,200 people on the Israeli side, the majority of them civilians according to a count based on official data, 251 people were kidnapped. A total of 96 hostages remain in Gaza, 34 of whom were declared dead by the army.
A permanent ceasefire?
Negotiations are always very volatile. The British agency Reuters reported Sunday, citing an unidentified Hamas official, that the release of the hostages would be conditional on the conclusion of an agreement on the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a permanent ceasefire. Israel and Hamas are also negotiating the number and identity of Palestinian prisoners and detainees who would be released in exchange for the hostages.
This new round of discussions in Doha comes just over two weeks before the inauguration, on January 20, of American President-elect Donald Trump, who has already put pressure on Hamas. Until now, the main sticking points included the permanent nature or not of a ceasefire and the governance of Gaza after the war. Israel is categorically opposed to Hamas ever ruling the territory again.
Despite intense diplomatic efforts led under the aegis of Qatar, Egypt and the United States, no truce has been concluded since that of a week at the end of November 2023, which allowed the release of 105 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. A source close to the matter told CNN that despite reports of new “optimism” around the negotiations, “there is not much new, progress is slow at the moment”.
The current head of American diplomacy, Antony Blinken, said this Monday that he was “confident” that an agreement could be found, even if “the finish line” might not be crossed “in the next two weeks”. According to Israeli media, the head of Mossad, the Israeli foreign intelligence agency, David Barnea, was to join negotiators sent by his country in Doha on Monday.
While waiting for a possible agreement, violence has escalated for several days in the Palestinian enclave besieged and devastated by nearly 15 months of war. Gaza emergency services reported at least 23 dead on Sunday in several Israeli strikes across the territory. The Israeli army announced that it had “hit more than 100 terrorist targets” and “eliminated dozens of Hamas terrorists” in the space of two days, Friday and Saturday, in Gaza.