Israel nixes cease-fire deal talks
Call for hostage list
Israeli officials have rejected cease-fire talks in Gaza until Hamas provides a list of the hostages who are still alive — even as a growing chorus of leaders, including President Biden, calls on the country to agree to a 40-day pause in the fighting.
The proposed cease-fire would allow for a fresh round of prisoner swaps, similar to a six-day truce brokered in November that saw more than 100 Israeli hostages released by the Palestinian militant group.
But Israel withdrew a delegation that it had sent to Doha, Qatar, earlier this week to discuss the proposal, saying Hamas did not uphold an agreement to give a full account of how many hostages were still alive, Axios reported Friday.
“The mediators promised that Hamas would give numbers and that didn’t happen,” a senior Israeli official told the outlet.
Egyptian and Qatari officials have since reached out to Israel to propose another sit-down next week, this time in Cairo, but Israel has reportedly declined.
“There is no point in starting another round of talks until we receive the lists of which of the hostages are alive and until Hamas gives its answer regarding the ‘ratio’ that defines how many prisoners will be released for each hostage,” the outlet quotes an Israeli official as saying.
Proposed terms
The cease-fire — which is being promoted by Biden as well as Egyptian President Abdel Fattah alSisi and Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al-Thani — would also ensure desperately needed humanitarian aid can reach Gaza’s nearly 2.3 million residents.
According to the White House, Biden spoke individually to the leaders Thursday about the “urgency of bringing negotiations to a close as soon as possible and expanding the flow of humanitarian assistance into Gaza,” Axios reports, citing several White House sources.
Under the terms of the cease-fireframework the three leaders have proposed, Israel would release around 400 Palestinian prisoners — including some convicted of murdering Israelis.
In exchange, Hamas would free about 40 Israeli hostages, including female civilians and soldiers and men over 50 or requiring serious medical attention.