President Biden plans to send CIA Director William J. Burns in the coming days to help negotiate an ambitious deal between Hamas and Israel that would include the release of all remaining held hostages in Gaza and the longest cessation of hostilities since the war began last year, officials familiar with the matter say.
Burns is expected to travel to Europe for the talks and meet with Israeli and Egyptian intelligence chiefs David Barnea and Abbas Kamel as well as Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, these people said, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive negotiations to discuss . The planned meeting has not yet been reported.
Egypt and Qatar have been key interlocutors between Israel and Hamas, the militant group whose deadly Oct. 7 cross-border attack sparked the war in Gaza. The two countries helped bring about an initial lull in hostilities and the release of hostages in November. But tensions between Israelis and Qataris are at a fever pitch after leaked audio recordings of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu captured the Israeli leader disparaging Qatar in a conversation with Israeli hostage families.
Here are the hostages released by Hamas and those remaining in the Gaza Strip
Burns' talks in Europe are expected to build on his telephone conversations with counterparts as well as the work of top White House Middle East official Brett McGurk, who held related meetings in Qatar's capital Doha and Cairo this week.
Israel's latest proposal calls for a 60-day pause in fighting in return for the gradual release of the more than 100 prisoners, starting with civilian women and children, followed by civilian men, military women and men, and the remains of those who have died since their abduction. Such a pause would allow Israel to resume fighting after the two-month break in line with Netanyahu's promise to achieve a “total victory” by destroying Hamas.
The CIA declined to comment.
The Israelis have also suggested that senior Hamas leaders should agree to a withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, but an official familiar with the negotiations said the idea was for the group and its military leaders, who were prepared to die as martyrs in the Palestinian enclave , a disaster. Hamas also rejected Israel's suggestion of a 60-day suspension and said the next hostage release should include a permanent ceasefire, the official said.
However, several officials said negotiations on these key points remained active.
Samir Farag, a former Egyptian general and defense official, said both Hamas and Israel had shown a willingness to return to the negotiating table.
“Everyone wants peace – the Palestinians, Hamas and the Israelis. But everyone wants to win in the negotiations,” he said. “We’re trying to find a middle ground.”
Hamas' possession of the hostages puts the group “in a very strong position,” Farag said.
“I think Netanyahu is under pressure because everyone on the streets in Israel wants to release the hostages,” he added. “So he has to do something or he'll be in big trouble – especially because he lost a lot of soldiers there in the war.” Some of the terms of the negotiations were reported by Axios and CNN.
According to another US official, the planned meeting between the intelligence chiefs and the Qatari prime minister reflects how far talks between Israel and Hamas have progressed in recent days. “I think there has been enough exchange of ideas and proposals that we are moving towards the serious phase of negotiations,” the official said.
Strong disagreements remain over whether a pause in fighting could lead to a permanent ceasefire, but the U.S. official said it could be achieved. “You can be cautiously optimistic that if you can manage to stop for two months, you might be able to stop,” he said.
The discussions take place as Israeli forces surround the country the town of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, where they believe senior Hamas commanders are staying. The United Nations accused Israel of shelling a U.N. compound housing 30,000 displaced people on Wednesday, sparking rare condemnation in the United States. Israel denied being responsible for an “air or artillery attack” on the area.
Humanitarian organizations have reported that thousands of civilians are trapped in the city, many in hospitals. According to Palestinian health authorities, more than 25,000 people, most of them civilians, have died across the Gaza Strip since fighting began.
The violence coincided with Qatar's anger over Netanyahu's leaked remarks in which he accused Doha of failing to pressure Hamas to release hostages. He also said the Gulf state was worse than the United Nations and the Red Cross, institutions that Israel routinely accuses of anti-Israel bias.
“You didn’t see me thanking Qatar, did you notice? I didn't thank Qatar. Why? Because for me, Qatar is essentially no different from the UN, from the Red Cross, and in some ways it is even more problematic,” Netanyahu said, according to an audio recording obtained by Israeli Channel 12.
Qatar said on If Netanyahu's comments “prove to be true,” Ansari said, “the Israeli [prime minister] would only obstruct and undermine the mediation process for reasons that appear to serve his political career rather than prioritizing saving innocent lives.”
An Israeli official did not immediately respond to a question about the leaked audio recordings.
A U.S. official said the dispute, while unwelcome, would not derail negotiations.
Despite US pressure on Israel, the number of victims in Gaza remains high
The intelligence chiefs and Qatar's prime minister also met shortly before finalizing the November deal, which called for the release of more than 100 prisoners in exchange for more than 200 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. The pause also allowed important flows of humanitarian aid to northern Gaza, where residents are on the brink of famine. Burns and McGurk both played a role in making this deal happen.
After a spate of diplomatic rows this month, both parties appeared close to an agreement, Farag said. But Hamas “demanded a guarantee because they sometimes hand over the hostages and afterward.” [Israel] will attack them again.”
The United States is the only actor that can offer such a guarantee, Farag said. Although Netanyahu has paid little attention in recent months to U.S. requests regarding its conduct of the war and the delivery of humanitarian aid to Gaza, he believes the United States retains decisive influence because of its military assistance to Israel, he said. He referenced a famous quote from the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who took part in the talks brokered by President Jimmy Carter that led to the Camp David Accords in 1978 and a peace treaty between Israel and Egypt the following year.
“We believe that, as President Sadat said, 99 percent of the solutions anywhere in the world come from the United States,” Farag said.
He added: “The Americans are very powerful, believe me. They can do whatever they want. The Israelis are now facing many problems – economic ones, because all the people are now working in the army. But who supports Israel? The United States. Who gave them all the ammunition? … If the Americans said no, it would stop.”
But Biden so far appears unwilling to put such serious pressure on Netanyahu's government, he said.
Michael Milshtein, a senior fellow at Reichman University and former head of the Palestinian division of Israeli military intelligence, said he believes an agreement could be reached in the coming weeks. “There are more and more voices in Israel that really want to promote such an agreement, and I think that Hamas also understands that the next phases of the conflict could cause serious damage to this organization,” he said. “Both sides want to examine this idea.”
Parker reported from Cairo. Susannah George in Doha and Karen DeYoung in Washington contributed to this report.