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Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - GAZA — Hamas has become the latest party to the Gaza hostage and ceasefire negotiations to voice optimism about the prospects of reaching a deal, amid a flurry of diplomatic activity in the region.
In an official statement on Tuesday, Hamas said reaching an agreement was “possible.” A Hamas source also added that the talks were “positive and optimistic.”
Top US, Israeli, Qatari and Egyptian officials have all touted progress in the negotiations in recent days. While officials caution that a deal is neither sealed nor guaranteed, the upbeat language and recent diplomatic activity point to significant momentum toward reaching a deal.
The CIA director, Bill Burns, is expected to travel to Qatar this week to participate in further talks on a ceasefire in Gaza, a US official and a second source familiar with the plans told CNN, with Burns expected in Doha as early as Wednesday, according to the second source.
An Israeli source familiar with the matter told CNN that a deal was still potentially weeks away.
Hamas also cautioned that hurdles remain, suggesting that Israel was “imposing new conditions” in the negotiations.
“The Islamic Resistance Movement Hamas affirms that in light of the serious and positive discussions taking place in Doha today, under the auspices of our Qatari and Egyptian brothers, reaching an agreement for a ceasefire and prisoner exchange is possible if the occupation stops imposing new conditions,” the organization said in a statement.
Both Israeli and Hamas teams are in the Qatari capital for indirect negotiations. The Israeli delegation includes representatives from the Mossad and Shin Bet security services, a source familiar with the matter told CNN. It is the most intensive period since talks fell apart at the end of August.
The terms of the deal are broadly the same as the proposal put forth by US President Joe Biden earlier this year, according to a diplomatic source familiar with the matter.
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.
A US official told CNN that the Doha meetings were at the lower “working” level. “US officials believe that a deal is closer than it has been but caution that there are gaps and sticking points that remain between Israel and Hamas,” the official said.
The optimistic language follows a slew of regional diplomatic activity, including a visit by US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan to Israel, Egypt and Qatar last week.
“My goal will be to put us in a position to be able to close this deal this month,” Sullivan said last week, speaking after his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Brett McGurk, a top Middle East adviser to President Biden, remained in Doha with other US officials working toward a ceasefire in Gaza as US officials believe that a deal is closer than it has been.
McGurk had been traveling in the region with Sullivan and the fact that he stayed is a sign the administration feels positive momentum, but a deal is not expected imminently.
US and Israeli officials have said conditions have ripened for an agreement to be reached in the wake of the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah, which has further isolated Hamas in its battle against Israel.
Officials also point to the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other Israeli military achievements as giving the Israeli government the victories it has sought to achieve before reaching a ceasefire deal.
Since the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel, the death toll from Israeli military action in Gaza has risen to almost 45,000, with more than 106,000 people injured, according to the health ministry in the territory.
US President-elect Donald Trump has also impacted talks, nudging Netanyahu toward a deal and threatening that there would be “all hell to pay” if the hostages were not released by the time he took office. His incoming team has also coordinated closely with the Biden administration and made trips to the region to help secure a deal.
US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Tuesday there is “cautious optimism tempered by realism” about the possibility of finally achieving a truce in Gaza.
“Based on the remaining issues, we should be able to get to an agreement, we should be able to bridge the disagreements between the two parties,” Miller said, without going into detail about the remaining issues.
“But that is not to say that that we will, because again, there have been times before where we were close and we thought the differences were bridgeable, and ultimately we didn’t get a deal,” he said at a press briefing Tuesday. “As you’ve heard me say before, all the United States can do is push and try to come up with compromises, but we cannot dictate to either side what choice they have to make. They have to make those decisions for themselves.”
The longtime Israeli hostage negotiator Gershon Baskin cautioned that “there is no deal until there is a deal.”
“Hamas has been ready since September for a comprehensive deal to end the war, return all the hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, and even agreed to give up control in Gaza,” said Baskin, who is not directly involved in the talks but remains a keen analyst. “What is brewing now, perhaps, is a major Egyptian-Qatari effort to reach a deal in stages.”
“Public anger against Hamas is erupting throughout Gaza,” he said. “At the same time, Hamas will not agree to release all the hostages if the IDF remains in Gaza, and even if there is a temporary ceasefire, it will not last if Israel intends to prevent the free movement of a million Gazans who want to return to their homes that no longer exist.”
The Israeli prime minister has also vowed that he will not end the war until Hamas is completely defeated in Gaza, raising the prospect of the war resuming once a number of hostages are released in the first phase of the agreement.
Renewed optimism over the talks comes even as Israeli forces continue to pound northern Gaza in an offensive Israel says is targeting Hamas’ renewed presence in the area.
On Tuesday, an Israeli strike hit a building near to Kamal Adwan Hospital, an area that has been hit repeatedly in the past week.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said the strike had targeted Hamas militants who were planning to attack Israeli forces. Islam Ahmad, an eyewitness who was inside the hospital at the time told CNN the strike had hit a residential building housing displaced families.
The destruction around Kamal Adwan has restricted the flow of medical supplies to what is one of only three hospitals still operational in northern Gaza.
The hospital has been “bombarded relentlessly” in recent days, according to its director Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya. Attacks on its generators have left it without electricity, its water tank has been destroyed and staff in its intensive care unit – the last functioning one in the area, according to Safiya – have been shot at.
“Anyone who moves in the hospital risks being injured or killed. As of now, there is no electricity, water, or oxygen at all,” he said Tuesday, adding, “It is clear that the whole world either does not see or does not want to see what is happening.”
Of the three minimally operational hospitals left in northern Gaza, Kamal Adwan is the closest to Israeli military activity in Beit Lahiya and the Jabalya Refugee Camp and has been receiving most of the injured from the surrounding fighting.
On Monday, the World Health Organization’s director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said WHO staff had finally reached the hospital two days earlier after four previous missions were denied access, leaving the hospital without specialized personnel for surgical and maternal care.
The WHO chief said the ongoing hostilities around the hospital had “further damaged the oxygen supply, generators, and broken windows and doors of the patients’ rooms.”
“The conditions in the hospital are simply appalling,” he said. — CNN
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