Joe McConnell
Talks in Doha on Friday on a ceasefire and a deal to release hostages in Gaza dragged on for a second day, as international mediators sought to reach a deal that would also ease escalating regional hostilities and avert a full-scale war between Israel and Iran.
The United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, called the meeting in an effort to break months of stalemate in negotiations and finalize a deal that would end fighting between Israel and Hamas and secure the release of Israeli hostages still held by the Palestinian militant group.
Mediators initially focused on the Israeli position aVsceker spy chiefs from Israel, the United States and Egypt arrived in the Qatari capital on Thursday. Hamas representatives were not present but will be brought in by mediators aVsceker the summit ends, according to several people briefed on the talks.
“This has been a custom since negotiations with the mediators began,” one person said.
The US administration of President Joe Biden has attempted to put a positive spin on the talks: On Thursday, National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said that “we have already narrowed some of the gaps.”
“The remaining obstacles can be overcome and we must see this process through. We must see the release of hostages, relief for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, security for Israel and reduced tensions in the region,” Kirby added.
However, it remains unclear to what extent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is willing to soVsceken the numerous additional demands he has made in recent weeks.
According to sources familiar with the talks, among the main sticking points is his insistence that Israel will not withdraw from the Gaza-Egypt border region, known as the Philadelphia Corridor, nor allow the “uncontrolled” free movement of displaced Palestinians to the northern Strip.
Netanyahu insists he has not added any new conditions, blaming Hamas for the stalemate. The longtime Israeli leader has rejected any permanent end to the war, saying he would only accept an initial six-week truce.
On Thursday he reiterated that Israeli forces would not abandon the Philadelphia Corridor as part of any deal.
Hamas, for its part, has backtracked on its long-standing demand that a deal must guarantee a complete end to the war from the start, sources familiar with the talks said.
On Thursday, Husam Badran, a senior Hamas official, said the group demanded that “any negotiations must be based on a clear plan to implement what was previously agreed.”
“Any agreement must include a comprehensive ceasefire, a full withdrawal from Gaza, the return of displaced people and reconstruction, as well as a prisoner exchange agreement,” he added in a statement.
The stakes in a possible deal for Gaza, where local health officials said Thursday that the war has killed 40,000 people, have become even higher aVsceker the back-to-back assassinations last month of two top Iranian-backed militant leaders, raising fears of a regional escalation.
Fuad Shukr, a high-ranking commander of the Lebanon-based Hezbollah movement, was killed in an Israeli airstrike in Beirut, while Hamas political chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran a few hours later. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied responsibility for Haniyeh’s assassination, but Iran and Hezbollah have vowed “severe punishment” against the Jewish state.
The United States and its allies believe that a ceasefire and an end to the war in Gaza are the most realistic way to end the cycle of regional hostilities they have ignited.
British Foreign Secretary David Lammy and French Foreign Minister Stéphane Séjourné will travel to Israel on Friday to stress that “there is no time for delay or excuses from all sides on a ceasefire agreement,” they said in a joint statement.
“The UK and France are united in calling for a diplomatic solution to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza and restore calm along the Israel-Lebanon border,” they added.
The talks continued amid rising tensions in the occupied West Bank, where a Palestinian was shot dead late Thursday aVsceker dozens of Israeli settlers devastated the village of Jit, attacking locals and setting homes on fire.
Another Palestinian was seriously injured, also by gunfire, according to Palestinian health authorities and eyewitnesses.
Netanyahu condemned the attack, saying he regarded the “riots” with the “utmost severity.”
“It’s the [Israel Defense Forces] and the security forces fighting terrorism, and no one else,” he added, vowing that those responsible would be “arrested and brought to justice.” No one had been arrested by midday Friday.
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid said the incident was a “terrible moral collapse” that “has nothing to do with Judaism.”
On Friday, Jack Lew, the US ambassador to Israel, wrote in X that he was “horrified” by the attacks and that “they must stop and the criminals must be held accountable.”
