Finally some positive signals? Israeli officials arrived in Doha on Monday for discussions aimed at a ceasefire in Gaza and an exchange of hostages and prisoners between Israel and Hamas, a source close to the talks told AFP.
“An Israeli technical team is in Doha to discuss the ceasefire and the Gaza hostage deal,” the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the discussions, adding that the meetings took place “between Israeli and Qatari work teams”.
Earlier in the day, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz indicated that the Jewish state’s negotiators had “never been so close to an agreement” since the November 2023 truce. “We have not been so close to an agreement on the hostages since the previous agreement,” the minister declared before members of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Israeli Parliament, his spokesperson told AFP, confirming the remarks made. during this closed session and quoted in the Israeli press.
“Regarding the possibilities of reaching an agreement on the exchange of prisoners and a ceasefire between the occupation (Israel) and resistance (Hamas and other Palestinian groups), I think we’re actually closer to the goal than we’ve ever been before, if Netanyahu doesn’t intentionally derail things like he’s done every time,” he told AFP. , on condition of anonymity, a Hamas official contacted in Doha.
Resumption of diplomatic efforts
In November 2023, a one-week truce, the only one so far in the war triggered on October 7, 2023 by the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israeli soil, allowed the release of 105 hostages held in the Gaza Strip and that of 240 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.
All mediation efforts led by Egypt, the United States and Qatar since then to try to obtain a new truce have failed. At the beginning of November, Qatar announced that it was suspending its efforts, criticizing the two belligerents for their total lack of desire to reach an agreement. But in recent weeks, diplomatic efforts have resumed, this time led jointly by Washington, Cairo, Doha and Ankara.
On Thursday, White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said during a visit to Israel that he had the “impression” that Benjamin Netanyahu was ready for an agreement for the release of the hostages kidnapped on 7- October. During a press briefing in Washington, State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller also judged that the negotiations were productive, while noting the persistence of blocking points.
Of the 251 people kidnapped on Israeli soil on October 7, 96 remain hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom were declared dead by the army. The Hamas attack on October 7, 2023 led to the death of 1,208 people on the Israeli side, the majority civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data and including hostages who died or were killed in captivity in the Hamas strip. Gaza.
The Israeli offensive has left at least 45,028 dead in the Gaza Strip, the majority civilians, according to data from the Hamas Ministry of Health for Gaza, deemed reliable by the UN.
