Hostage deal at impasse after Hamas rejects US compromise
Israel recalls negotiators from Doha talks
Israel has recalled its negotiators from Doha after deeming mediation talks on a Gaza truce “at a dead end” due to Hamas’s demands, a senior Israeli official said on Tuesday.
The official, who is close to the Mossad spymaster heading up the talks, accused Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar of sabotaging the diplomacy “as part of a wider effort to inflame this war over Ramadan.”
Hamas rejected the deal late Monday night, informing mediators that it would maintain its original position regarding a ceasefire, meaning they are demanding the withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza, the return of Palestinians
to their homes, and an exchange of prisoners.
A message published on Hamas’s official Telegram channel read, “The Hamas movement informed the mediator brothers a short while ago that the movement is adhering to its position and vision that it presented on March 14.”
“The occupation’s response did not respond to any of the basic demands of our people and our resistance,” read a statement by Hamas. “Accordingly, the movement reiterates that Netanyahu and his extremist government bear full responsibility for thwarting all negotiation efforts and obstructing reaching an agreement so far,” it concluded.
Israel reportedly agreed Saturday to a US compromise on the number of Palestinian prisoners to be released for every Israeli hostage returned; it was willing to release some 700 to 800 prisoners and consider a return of Palestinian citizens to the north of the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli media reports.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Hamas’s response proves that they are not interested in continuing negotiations for a deal. He also called the response “testimony to the damage” created by the UN Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza, which passed on Monday.
The passing of the resolution did not have an immediate impact on ceasefire talks, mediator Qatar said earlier on
Tuesday. “We haven’t seen any immediate effect on the talks; they are ongoing as they were before, as the (UN) decision was taking place,” said Qatar foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari during a press conference in Doha.
The US State Department also denied that Hamas rejected the most recent hostage deal proposal because of Monday’s UNSC resolution – a notion being pushed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the department.
Spokesperson Matthew Miller said Hamas’s response to the deal was prepared before the UNSC vote, not after it. “So, for the United States, we are not going to engage in rhetorical distractions on this issue. We are going to continue to work to try to bring the hostages home,” Miller said.
The US is working on another compromise that will be proposed in a few days, reported N12’s Yaron Avraham.
Following the passage of the resolution on Monday, Netanyahu canceled a delegation of Israeli officials set to depart for DC to meet with senior US officials to discuss an IDF operation in Rafah as well as the hostages.
Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, on a separate trip to meet with US officials, continued his meetings on Monday and Tuesday, despite the other delegation being canceled. Gallant met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken late Monday night (Israel time). The two discussed “military operations required to destroy Hamas as a military and governing authority in Gaza,” according to a statement from Gallant’s office.
“During our discussion, I emphasized that Israel will not cease operating in Gaza until the return of all the hostages. Only a decisive victory will bring an end to this war,” Gallant stated.
In their conversation, Blinken reiterated the US opposition to a major ground operation in Gaza and emphasized that other alternatives would “better ensure Israel’s security and protect Palestinian civilians,” according to a statement from the State Department.
A major operation “would further jeopardize the welfare of the more than 1.4 million Palestinian civilians sheltering there,” read the statement. Blinken also emphasized the need to immediately increase and sustain additional humanitarian aid to Gazan civilians.
The UNSC resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire and the release of the hostages was passed when the US abstained from the vote and did not exercise its veto as it had with three previous, similar resolutions on the war in Gaza. Blinken said in a press statement that the abstention “reaffirms the US position that a ceasefire of any duration comes as part of an agreement to release hostages in Gaza.” White House National Security spokesman John Kirby said that the US abstention does not represent a shift in policy.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on X on Tuesday that “if Israel doesn’t comply with the United Nations ceasefire resolution, we will break diplomatic ties with Israel.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz responded to the Colombian president’s post, saying, “The support of the President of Colombia for the Hamas killers who committed massacres and horrific sexual crimes against