Mediators intensify push to close final gaps between Israel and Hamas

CIA director is in Doha and expected this week in Cairo for ceasefire talks along with representatives of Qatar, Israel and Hamas

Palestinian children displaced by the war, at a camp in Al Mawasi area, southern Gaza. Reuters

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CIA director William Burns was in Doha on Wednesday for talks with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, as US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators stepped up efforts to close the remaining gaps between Israel and Hamas to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal.

Sources said Mr Burns and Sheikh Mohammed, along with the heads of Israel's Mossad spy agency and its domestic counterpart, Shin Bet, were expected in Cairo later this week, together with top Hamas officials, for what could be the home stretch in the months-long wrangling.

There was cautious optimism, one source said, that an agreement for a ceasefire in Gaza and a prisoner exchange will be reached soon.

"A significant number of contentious and challenging issues between the two sides have been resolved. There is a greater readiness from both warring parties to finalise the agreement," the source said.

A joint team from Mossad and Shin Bet was in Doha earlier this week, working with Qatari mediators on technical details of a possible deal, according to the sources, indicating an agreement might be within reach.

Mr Burns, the Qatari prime minister and top officials from the Egyptian intelligence service have been the chief mediators in more than a year of on-and-off efforts to broker a ceasefire and exchange of Israeli and other hostages held by Hamas for hundreds of Palestinians detained in Israel.

The rival sides have in recent weeks shown some flexibility, with Hamas dropping some of its key demands – full Israeli withdrawal and a permanent ceasefire. Hamas has seen Israel destroy a significant part of its military capabilities and assassinate its top officials and commanders, including leader Yahya Sinwar.

Contributing to re-energising the talks have been US president-elect Donald Trump's vows that “there will be hell to pay” if the hostages are not released by his January 20 inauguration and pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at home to strike a deal that frees the hostages.

A fire burns inside a Palestinian house amid the continuing Israeli military operation in Beit Lahia. Reuters

The only truce observed since the start of the 14-month war was in November last year, when Hamas released about 100 hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel. Those released were among 250 hostages the militant group took when it attacked southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people.

The attack drew a devastating Israeli response that has since killed more than 45,000 Palestinians and wounded twice that number, according to figures from the Hamas government. It has also displaced most of the 2.3 million Gaza residents and razed vast built-up areas.

Hamas said on Tuesday that progress in the Doha talks was “serious and positive”, while White House spokesman John Kirby made similar comments. “We believe – and the Israelis have said this – that we're getting closer, and no doubt about it, we believe that, but we also are cautious in our optimism,” Mr Kirby told Fox News. “We have been in this position before where we weren't able to get it over the finish line.”

A Palestinian man tries to put out a fire inside a house near Kamal Adwan hospital in Beit Lahia on Tuesday. Reuters

On Wednesday, the sources told The National that the proposals under discussion provide for a 60-day truce, during which a limited exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners would take place. More humanitarian assistance would enter Gaza and displaced Palestinians would be allowed to return home.

Hamas says it will initially release 30 hostages, including female Israeli soldiers and the remains of some of those who died in captivity, said the sources. Israel wants all 30 to be living hostages.

Hamas and its allied groups in Gaza are believed to be holding about 100 hostages, of whom 40 may have died in captivity, according to Israel's military.

The sources said Hamas has agreed to an Israeli demand that high-profile Palestinian prisoners serving long jail terms will live in exile rather than in Palestinian territories, with their families following them abroad. Israel, they added, also wanted to retain the right to deny on security grounds access to northern Gaza by displaced Palestinians.

Hamas has agreed to Israel's condition that senior leaders from the group and their families accept safe passage out of Gaza with their families and a guarantee they would not be targeted wherever they choose to live. Turkey is the most likely destination for them, added the sources.

Mourners attend the funeral of a Palestinian woman killed in an Israeli strike on a tent camp at Nasser hospital in Khan Younis on Wednesday. Reuters

Also proposed is Israel's gradual withdrawal from a narrow strip of land that runs the length of the Gaza-Egypt border on the Palestinian side, which includes Salah Al Din Corridor, also known as the Philadelphi Corridor, and the Rafah crossing, Gaza's only route to the outside world that is not controlled by Israel.

Israel captured the area in May, drawing an angry response from Egypt, which closed its side of the Rafah crossing in protest. Replacing the Israelis along Salah Al Din and at the Rafah crossing would be a UN force, according to the proposals, the sources said.

During the proposed truce, negotiations would be held between all stakeholders on an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and how the coastal enclave would be run after the war, said the sources. Hamas, they said, wants guarantees that Israel would not resume military operations after all the hostages are released.