Displaced Palestinians flee following evacuation orders from the Israeli army to leave the Hamad district of Khan Younis, southern Gaza, on Aug. 11, 2024. (Ahmad Salem/Bloomberg)
International mediators are holding a second day of negotiations with Israel to pause the war with Hamas in Gaza, a development that could help defuse tensions with Iran.
An Israeli delegation led by the Mossad spy service chief David Barnea began meetings in Qatar on Thursday with its Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, the intermediaries between the warring sides. CIA director William Burns is there representing the US.
Subscribe to the Here’s Why podcast on Apple, Spotify or anywhere you listen.
Representatives of Hamas, which is fighting against Israel in the more than 10-month conflict, aren’t taking part in the discussions, but mediators are briefing them on the outcome of the gatherings.
Qatar’s foreign ministry said talks are continuing on Friday, while the White House said it expected the latest round of negotiations in Doha to take days. The various parties are working on a three-stage proposal presented by US President Joe Biden at the end of May, which aims to suspend hostilities, free more than 100 hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and transfer more aid to the ravaged Gaza Strip.
Some progress was made on the first day of negotiations, according to an official briefed on the talks, asking not to be identified discussing sensitive information. The person didn’t elaborate on where headway has been made.
Mediators have struggled in previous rounds to resolve a key rift between Israel and Hamas. Israel insists that it will eventually fight on until Hamas is totally destroyed, while the Islamist group is demanding that any cease-fire be permanent and all Israeli troops withdraw.
Iran and Lebanon-based Hezbollah are threatening a retaliatory attack against Israel, which they blame for the back-to-back assassinations of top militants in Beirut and Tehran more than two weeks ago.
In the event of such an offensive, Israel expects the US, UK and France to help fend it off while also attacking “significant targets” in Iran in a counter-strike, Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Friday.
The possibility of an Iranian-orchestrated reprisal has deepened the impasse, though a Gaza truce could help ease tensions.
One of the likely complications during the talks is conferring with Hamas’s key commander Yahya Sinwar, who is believed to be in hiding in Gaza. He replaced political leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in the Iranian capital on July 31. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied a role in Haniyeh’s death.
Sticking points in past truce talks have included a clause that provides for further negotiations after the first phase of a cease-fire comes into effect. Another is what concessions the two sides would agree to during a second phase.
Under Biden’s proposal, negotiations could continue if they run past the six-week initial truce, and the pause in fighting could be extended as needed. Israel has opposed this, worrying that Hamas could draw out the talks indefinitely. Hamas, for its part, has balked at certain elements of the proposed second-phase discussions including the group’s demilitarization, officials say.
Read this next: Gaza Reduced to 42 Million Tonnes of Rubble. What Will It Take to Rebuild?
Other points of contention include the number of hostages Hamas should or could free in the first phase of the truce, and a lack of clarity over how to enforce Biden’s call for civilians, and not fighters, to be allowed back into northern Gaza.
The war in the Palestinian enclave erupted after Hamas fighters swarmed into southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people. Israel responded with an air and ground assault and more than 40,000 people have died, according to health officials in Hamas-run Gaza. Hamas is designated a terrorist organization by the US.
With assistance from Galit Altstein.
