Israeli Delegation To Arrive In Qatar For Gaza Talks

An Israeli delegation is expected to arrive in Qatar on Friday to continue negotiations on a hostage and ceasefire deal in Gaza, a source with knowledge of the talks told CNN on Friday.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to hold a meeting Friday to discuss the “mandate of the delegation,” his spokesperson confirmed.

Professional-level representatives from the Israel Security Agency (ISA), the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), and Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, known as Mossad, will travel to the Qatari capital of Doha for the talks, Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on Thursday.

Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas have carried on even as official negotiations have been deadlocked for months as the administration of US President Joe Biden pushed for a deal to be reached.

A diplomatic source familiar with the matter told CNN in December that the deal is broadly the same as the proposal put forth by Biden earlier in 2024.

The three-phase Biden proposal in late May paired a release of hostages held in Gaza with a “full and complete ceasefire.”

The first phase would last six weeks and include the “withdrawal of Israeli forces from all populated areas of Gaza” and the “release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly, the wounded in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners,” the US president had said.

“What has changed is that Israeli forces are likely to stay in Gaza temporarily,” when phase one of a deal starts, the diplomatic source said, namely in the strip of land on the Gaza-Egypt border, called the Philadelphi corridor, and in an area bisecting the strip, known as the Netzarim corridor.

Israel’s demand that its troops remain along the Philadelphi corridor – and Hamas’ insistence that they withdraw – was a key reason for the collapse of talks in August.

Months later, in November, Qatar announced that it had paused its role as a ceasefire mediator due to a lack of willingness by the sides to reach an agreement.

Both parties have blamed the other for talks stalling as recently as last week when Hamas said Israel had set “new issues and conditions” on the terms of a deal and Netanyahu accused Hamas of “reneging on understandings.”

However, sources within Hamas and Israel have voiced cautious optimism in December about the prospects of reaching a deal.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which represents the families of hostages, praised the news about renewed talks but also pushed for urgency. “We cannot miss this window of opportunity! The 100 hostages being held in the depths of Hamas tunnels in Gaza don’t have time for delays in the negotiations,” the forum said on X on Thursday.

CNN/Ejiofor Ezeifeoma