Hostage deal talks stall again, PM Netanyahu orders return of negotiators for consultations

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday instructed some of Israel’s negotiation team to return for consultations, after a week of fruitless negotiations in Qatar amid Israel’s slowly escalating ground offensive in Gaza.

According to a statement by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), only the senior members will return, while “the working echelon will – at present – remain in Doha.”

The statement followed allegations by Qatari and Hamas representatives that Israel was to blame for the lack of success in the negotiations.

“Israel has agreed to the American proposal for the return of the hostages, which is based on the Witkoff framework,” the PMO asserted. “This proposal was recently conveyed to Hamas via the mediators, even though it is continuing to cling to its refusal.”

It was unclear whether the statement referred to the original Witkoff framework or the recently updated outline.

The talks focus broadly on a ceasefire of up to two months, including the release of around half the living Israeli hostages and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, while negotiations for an end to the war would commence.

In a recent statement, Netanyahu, for the first time, indicated he would be willing to agree to an end to the war if Hamas were disarmed and exiled, and the hostages returned.

Asked about this in an interview with Radio Galey Israel on Tuesday, Netanyahu’s spokesman, Dr. Omer Dostri, stressed that “War is just a means, as soon as Hamas doesn't stay in Gaza and all our hostages are released - what could be better?”

However, a source involved in the negotiations cited by The Times of Israel claimed that both Hamas and Israel had not compromised on some issues, and are being pressured by the U.S.

“This is not a matter of just waiting for Hamas to say ‘yes,'” the source said, explaining that part of the problem is finding a language allowing Hamas to claim the agreement would lead to an end of the war, while allowing Israel to say that it hasn’t fully committed to end the war.

Despite the gaps, the source stressed that a deal was still within reach.

On Tuesday, a senior Hamas official told the Qatari Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that the talks were stuck “because Netanyahu is preventing any progress towards a ceasefire in Gaza.”

Qatar’s Prime Minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, in remarks at the Qatar Economic Forum in Doha, blamed Israel’s military operations for the impasse : “The talks are going nowhere,” he said.

“When Israeli-American soldier Edan Alexander was released, we thought that moment would open a door to end this tragedy, but the response was a more violent wave of strikes,” he said. “This irresponsible, aggressive behavior undermines any potential chance for peace.”

“We are now stuck in a situation where if the (military) action begins, it will postpone and delay the diplomatic solution to the war, which in our opinion, will only end through diplomatic means, and the price of this will be an additional number of victims on the Palestinian side and on the side of the kidnapped,” Al-Thani added.

Netanyahu’s decision to recall some of the negotiators was met with sharp criticism from the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which claimed that it showed “the Israeli government has no real plan for the return of the last kidnapped person.”

“Hamas will not be defeated without the return of every last hostage. Until then, there will be no victory or even the appearance of victory. We will return. We will avenge.”

“Israel does not have the privilege of abandoning the negotiations. If we choose to do so, the State of Israel will lose out on all fronts: the hostages will be placed in grave danger, our fighters will pay a heavy price, and Israel will sink into the Gaza mud while being politically isolated,” the forum said.