Middle East diplomacy: New round in the struggle for the Gaza ceasefire and hostage agreement

In the struggle for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and for the release of the hostages held by Hamas, a new round of negotiations has begun in the Qatari capital Doha. Israeli government representatives confirmed this to their country’s media and the Islamist Hamas in a press release.

Qatar, together with Egypt and the USA, is mediating between Israel and Hamas, which reject direct negotiations with each other. Hamas emphasized in its statement that the negotiations were aimed at finally ending the fighting in Gaza. However, this has so far been one of the stumbling blocks in the diplomatic efforts, which have been dragging on without results for many months: Israel only wants to accept a multi-stage agreement with temporary ceasefires.

However, an Israeli government official expressed “cautious optimism” to the Israeli portal “walla.co.il”. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants an agreement, he added. At the same time, there are still serious divergences between the sides, but these can ultimately be bridged. The official spoke of a time horizon of “weeks” for a possible positive conclusion to the negotiations.

Netanyahu set mandate for negotiators

Israel is represented in Doha by officials from the secret services Mossad (foreign) and Shin Bet (domestic) as well as the army. Netanyahu held a video conference with them before their departure, Israeli media reported. The mandate he gave them was not as generous as negotiators had hoped, but it was enough to make progress, TV station Channel 12 reported, citing people familiar with the process.

In the past, not only Hamas’s intransigence, but also Netanyahu’s insistence on maximum demands – including the permanent retention of Israeli troops in strategic locations inside the Gaza Strip – had repeatedly caused the talks to fail.

According to Israel’s count, there are still 100 hostages held by Hamas and its allies in Gaza. But many of them are probably no longer alive. The Gaza war was triggered by the unprecedented Hamas massacre in Israel on October 7, 2023, which left 1,200 dead. According to Palestinian figures on Friday, 45,658 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war began. The figure, which cannot be independently verified, does not distinguish between civilians and fighters.