By Mayan Lubel and Nidal al-Mughrabi
JERUSALEM/CAIRO (Reuters) – Israelis and Palestinians renewed efforts for a ceasefire deal, for the first time in a year, to end fighting in Gaza and allow at least some of the 100 hostages still held in the Palestinian enclave to return to Israel. are indicating
Safe optimism US President Joe Biden’s national security adviser Jack Sullivan held talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel on Thursday before traveling to Egypt and Qatar, co-brokering with the US on a deal.
An Israeli accord with the Palestinian militant group Hamas is taking shape but is likely to be limited, including the release of only a handful of hostages and a short pause in hostilities, a Western diplomat in the region said.
A senior Hamas official, Bassem Naim, said any US official would have to apply “real pressure” on Netanyahu and his government to accept the July 2 US cease-fire proposal and the UN resolution, which Hamas alone has rejected. accepted
It would be only the second such war since the start of the war in October 2023. This would also enable the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
David Barnia, head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, met with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha on Wednesday on a ceasefire and hostage release deal, a source briefed on the meeting said. met to discuss.
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told his U.S. counterpart Lloyd Austin in a phone call Wednesday that there is now an opportunity for a deal that would allow the return of all hostages, including seven American citizens, Katz’s office said.
Anything more than a limited war remains unlikely as long as both sides stick to the demands that have dogged several rounds of failed negotiations.
Hamas wants the war to end before all hostages are released, while Israel says the war will not end until the hostages are returned and Hamas no longer rules Gaza or poses a threat to Israelis.
“From the first day of the talks, our decision is clear: an end to the war on our people and a prisoner exchange. We have shown the necessary flexibility and positivity to achieve this and the mediators are our witnesses,” Naim told Reuters. .
The war began after Hamas gunmen stormed Israeli communities on October 7, 2023, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages, according to an Israeli count.
Since then, Israel’s military has leveled large swaths of Gaza, killing nearly 45,000 Palestinians, driving all of its 2.3 million people from their homes and causing starvation and disease, according to Palestinian health officials. has given birth to
‘hell to pay’
Hamas has demanded the release of hostages in Gaza before US President-elect Donald Trump takes over from Biden on January 20. Otherwise, Trump has said, there will be “hell to pay.”
Ambassador Adam Boehler, Trump’s designated hostage, has said he spoke with Biden and Netanyahu.
Bohler told Israel’s Channel 13 News last week: “I would appeal to the people who have taken hostages: Make your best deal now. Do it now because every day that goes by, it’s getting harder and harder. And more lives will be lost to Hamas.”
Although Biden and Trump are working separately, their efforts overlap and both stand to benefit from a deal. A US official said Trump’s public statements about the need for a swift ceasefire were “not harmful”.
The priority is to get the hostages home, whether at the end of Biden’s term or the beginning of Trump’s, the official said.
Right time for Netanyahu
The timing could never be better for Netanyahu after Israel reasserted its reputation as the most powerful Middle East power with operations in Lebanon and Syria that weakened Hamas’s Iranian-backed allies and isolated it. – had left isolation.
Netanyahu’s once-fragile coalition has been strengthened by the addition of Foreign Minister Gideon Saar and his more centrist faction.
A Palestinian official close to the talks described what he called “negotiation fever” with ideas emerging from all sides, including mediators in Egypt and Qatar, and said Trump’s involvement had given the talks a boost.
