The United States, Israel, Egypt and Qatar have already reached an agreement on “baselines” to allow for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners. The White House National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, said in an interview on CNN this Sunday that the final agreement was still in the negotiation process and suggested that Qatar and Egypt, the main mediators in the Gaza war, plan to hold “indirect talks” with the Palestinian group Hamas. “The work is in progress. And we hope that in the coming days we can reach a point where there is a firm and final agreement on this issue, but we will have to wait and see,” Sullivan said.
According to the Egyptian state television Al Qahera News, which is very close to the Egyptian intelligence services, the delegations of Egypt, Qatar, the USA, Israel and Hamas resumed their negotiations in Doha this Sunday. Just yesterday, Saturday, the Israeli War Cabinet agreed to send a delegation to the Qatari capital to negotiate indirectly with Hamas.
These talks in Doha come after the round of consultations held in Paris on Friday and Saturday between Israel, the United States, Egypt and Qatar to determine the terms of a new agreement. According to Israeli media, the new draft provides for a six-week ceasefire and the release of approximately 40 hostages in exchange for the release of between 200 and 300 Palestinian prisoners.
Since the war began, Israel and Hamas only agreed to a week-long ceasefire agreement in late November that allowed this to happen Release of 105 hostages in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners. More than 29,600 Gazans have been killed and more than 69,700 injured in the more than four-month-long war in Gaza, which began on October 7, 2023 after a brutal Hamas attack on Israeli soil that left about 1,200 people dead and 250 kidnapped .
Netanyahu marks profile
The Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, declared this Sunday that an agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza will only be reached if the Palestinian group Hamas gives up its “delusional” ideas. In an interview with American broadcaster CBS, Netanyahu acknowledged that there are strong differences with Hamas, but refused to clarify which of the Palestinian group’s demands went too far. “If Hamas gives up its delusional demands and wakes up to reality, we will achieve the progress we all want,” he said. In any case, Netanyahu noted that an agreement “cannot jeopardize total victory” over Hamas.
The Hebrew prime minister also thanked weeks of efforts by the United States, Egypt and Qatar, the latter two main mediators in the war in Gaza, to facilitate a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners.