Diplomats are aiming to restart negotiations for a cease-fire between Israel and Hamas sooner or later within the subsequent week, based on three officers briefed on the method, rekindling hopes of an finish to the combating in Gaza at the same time as Israel presses forward with its marketing campaign there.
In keeping with the officers, preliminary discussions have been held this weekend in Paris between David Barnea, the director of Israel’s overseas intelligence company, the Mossad; William J. Burns, the director of the C.I.A.; and the Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, one of many lead mediators between Israel and Hamas. The officers spoke on situation of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
For months, Qatar, the US and Egypt have been attempting to persuade Israel and Hamas into accepting a truce and an alternate of captives that might assist convey the seven-month struggle to an in depth.
However earlier talks have repeatedly damaged down over the size and nature of the truce: Hamas desires a everlasting cease-fire, permitting it to stay in control of Gaza, whereas Israel desires to have the ability to proceed combating after a pause — in order that it could actually wrest Hamas from energy. The opposite main level of rivalry within the final spherical centered on the best way to transition between completely different phases of a three-phase deal.
Earlier sticking factors have included the extent to which Israeli troops ought to withdraw from Gaza throughout any truce, and whether or not Israel will enable Gazans to maneuver freely between north and south Gaza.
The edges have additionally disagreed in regards to the variety of hostages that must be launched by Hamas, in addition to the variety of Palestinian prisoners that must be freed in alternate by Israel. Within the final spherical, negotiators talked about Hamas probably releasing 33 hostages, primarily ladies, the aged and anybody in want of pressing medical care. Greater than 120 hostages stay in Gaza, and roughly 1 / 4 of them are useless, based on the newest Israeli evaluation.
Throughout the talks, Egyptian and Qatari officers have dealt immediately with Hamas’s envoys, who don’t meet in particular person with Israeli or American counterparts. Egypt took the lead within the final spherical of negotiations, which have been held in Cairo, although Qatari officers have been additionally current.
Diplomats say that the hostage negotiations should be accomplished with the intention to make headway in different associated diplomatic initiatives. These endeavors embrace a regional debate about who ought to govern a postwar Gaza; talks over a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia; and negotiations for a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah, the Lebanese militia that’s combating the Israeli navy alongside the Israel-Lebanon border.
Rawan Sheikh Ahmad contributed reporting from Haifa, Israel, and Julian E. Barnes contributed from Washington.
