Stalled Hostage Talks Between Israel, Hamas Despite International Efforts
A senior Israeli official told Israel’s Channel 12 news on Thursday that there are currently no active talks with Hamas to secure a new hostage deal despite the two parties’ ongoing meetings with Qatar and Egypt, respectively.
The official comments come at a time of increasing international and domestic pressure on Israel. Many global players are seeking a cease-fire due to the worsening humanitarian situation in Gaza. Meanwhile, many within Israel are growing more adamant that a deal must be made to secure the release of the remaining hostages.
The statement notes that Israeli officials have met with their Qatari counterparts twice this week in hopes of setting up a new framework for negotiations.
“At the moment, we don’t have a negotiation, but there is some kind of progress in the fact that we have met with the Qataris twice already in the last week, and we made clear to everybody in Israel and outside of Israel that it’s time to renew the shaping up of a new hostages [release] structure,” the official stated during a briefing.
Earlier this week, Hamas’ chairman and top political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, traveled to Cairo to meet with senior leadership within Egypt’s intelligence apparatus in what appeared to be a precursor to preliminary talks on a new cease-fire agreement and hostage exchange deal. Nonetheless, the negotiations appear to have come to a standstill as Hamas leadership maintains its public refusal to open a dialogue on releasing the hostages unless Israel agrees to a permanent cease-fire.
Gershon Baskin, who led the Israeli negotiations that freed Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit in 2011, stated in an interview that if Israel wants to secure the release of the remaining hostages, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government will need to make Hamas an extremely compelling offer.
“We should start taking them [Hamas] seriously. They’ve been saying for three weeks that they’re not prepared to hold negotiations until the fighting ends,” Baskin told Channel 12 News, arguing that “the only way to break them is to place a deal on the table that they cannot refuse.”
Baskin articulated that if Israel is not prepared to offer an all-for-all deal that would free all the Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, a deal must be offered that will at least guarantee the release of the remaining women, children, sick, and elderly hostages still being held in Gaza.
“Israel should present to Hamas a long list of terrorists that it is prepared to release and publicize it to apply pressure on Hamas, with Palestinians in [Israel’s] prisons, in Gaza, and in the West Bank leaning on Hamas to make a deal.”
An Israeli security official also told Channel 12 that the public should not resign themselves to the idea that the new hostage deal negotiations are dead on arrival, insisting that “it’s too early to eulogize the talks.”
“We knew it [negotiations] would be difficult and complex. We are determined to turn over every stone in order to succeed, despite the obstacles,” the official said.
