Mossad chief Barnea and Minister Dermer meet with Witkoff in Washington as hostage talks stall

Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Mossad Director David Barnea arrived in the United States earlier this week to discuss the Iranian nuclear negotiations, and also met with Middle East Envoy Steve Witkoff on Tuesday evening to discuss American efforts to forge a hostage-ceasefire deal, according to reports. 

The meeting comes after Hamas claimed to have accepted the recent proposal by Witkoff, but Witkoff later denied that the terror group had accepted. After reports on Monday that Hamas had accepted his proposal, Witkoff told Axios that Hamas’ response was “disappointing.” 

“What I have seen from Hamas is disappointing and completely unacceptable,” he said. He noted that Israel had largely agreed to his proposal, which includes a temporary ceasefire. 

“Israel will agree to a temporary ceasefire that would see half of the living and deceased hostages return, and lead to substantive negotiations to find a path to a permanent ceasefire, which I agreed to preside over,” Witkoff said. “That deal is on the table. Hamas should take it.” 

Hebrew media reports claimed that the misunderstanding between Hamas and Witkoff stemmed from back-channel discussions between Hamas and Palestinian-American businessman Bishara Bahbah, who helped negotiate the release of Israeli hostage Edan Alexander. 

The reports claim that Bahbah discussed possible changes to Witkoff’s proposal which went beyond what Witkoff or Israel were willing to accept. 

While back-channel discussions have been ongoing, there appears to be little progress at the moment. Hamas reportedly wants a longer period for the ceasefire and a U.S. guarantee about discussions to end the war, while Witkoff and Israel have pushed for a 60-day ceasefire. 

A Times of Israel report on Tuesday night, claimed that the negotiations remain deadlocked, with mediators struggling to craft a framework that satisfies both Hamas and Israel, without forcing either side into a political concession they cannot accept. Hamas wants a commitment to a permanent end to the war, while Israel is unwilling to make such an up-front commitment. 

Meanwhile, the hostage families in Israel expressed frustration with both Israeli Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the lack of progress in releasing the remaining hostages. 

On Tuesday, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum called on Dermer to resign from his role as lead of the negotiating team, citing the failure to release a single hostage as a result of the negotiations. 

“With your appointment, you promised us, the families, that you would bring about a breakthrough in the negotiations and achieve the release of additional hostages. In reality, the complete opposite happened: 100 days. Zero hostages,” the Forum wrote in a letter to Dermer. 

“Not only has not a single hostage been released thanks to the Israeli negotiating team you led, but it also appears that you are leading the enormous efforts currently being made to torpedo any agreement that might return all the hostages and end the war, against the will of the absolute majority of the people. This is a resounding failure.”

Netanyahu also came under fire for falsely raising the expectations of the hostage families by indicating that a deal was close. In a video released on Monday, he said, “I really hope we can announce something regarding the hostages, if not today, then tomorrow.” 

Netanyahu made a similar statement during a Jerusalem Day speech on Monday evening, where he said that “the task of returning our hostages keeps us busy every day and every night.” 

“We aren’t letting go of this, and if we don’t fulfill it today, we’ll do it tomorrow. And if not tomorrow, the day after,” the prime minister stated. 

After reactions from hostage families demanding to know if there had been actual progress in the negotiations, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) issued a statement saying, “The prime minister meant that we will not give up on freeing our hostages, and if we don’t achieve that, hopefully in the coming days, we will achieve it later on.” 

Hopes were also raised by reports that U.S. President Donald Trump would announce a ceasefire in Gaza shortly, apparently as a result of the negotiations. Reports even stated that the U.S. president had asked Israel to postpone its renewed ground operations in Gaza in order for the negotiations to progress.

Those moves now appear to be related to the revised version of Witkoff's proposal, which has not yet been approved by both sides.