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The US and Qatar are moving closer to a deal to release a substantial number of civilian hostages held by Hamas in the besieged Gaza Strip.
An agreement is expected to result in a multi-day pause in Israel’s offensive on Gaza and an increase in urgently needed aid into the enclave, which is facing a deepening humanitarian crisis.
The plight of about 240 hostages has worsened the anxiety for Israelis and has become a politically sensitive issue for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he continues with the offensive against Hamas. Families of the captives have pressured the government to do more to secure their freedom.
US deputy national security adviser Jonathan Finer said they were moving closer to reaching a final agreement, narrowing many previously existing differences.
The Biden administration and Israel have resisted the calls for a ceasefire, insisting that any pause in the Israeli offensive against Gaza would only come after Hamas agrees to release a large number of civilian captives seized in its October 7 attack.
© Qatar News Agency/AFP via Getty Images
Qatar, a US ally that hosts Hamas’s political office in Doha, is facilitating talks to secure the hostages’ release. Negotiators have believed they were close to securing a deal, only for the talks to stall over disagreements between Israel and Hamas.
Qatari prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani stated that “there has been good progress in the past few days”, although minor obstacles still remain between Israel and Hamas agreeing on a deal.
Brett McGurk, the White House’s Middle East adviser, mentioned at a conference that a pause in Israel’s assault on Gaza and an increase in humanitarian relief and fuel into the strip “will come when hostages are released”.
Israel has laid siege to Gaza and its forces have moved deeper into the strip since launching its offensive after the October 7 attack on southern Israel. Almost 11,500 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza, according to Palestinian officials. UN officials have warned of a catastrophic humanitarian crisis in the strip, home to 2.3mn people, amid crippling shortages of food, water, fuel, and medicine.
The deal to secure the hostages’ release would lead to Israel pausing its offensive for several days and allow for more aid delivery into the strip. Hamas also wants a number of Palestinian women and children held in Israeli prisons to be released.
The negotiations continue to make progress but keep faltering over details. These include Hamas’s demand for a five-day pause and Israel’s demand for it to be shorter, as well as the question of where released Palestinian prisoners would go, according to a person briefed on the negotiations.
“The mantra that nothing is agreed until everything is agreed really does apply, and we do not yet have an agreement in place,” said Finer. “And so until that is the case, you know, we’re not going to lay out all the details in public.”
Michael Herzog, Israel’s ambassador to the US, expressed hope that a significant number of hostages could be released by Hamas “in coming days”.
