Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced on Tuesday evening that after a week of "intensive" hostage talks in Doha, high-level members of Israel’s negotiating team have been recalled to Israel, while a number of working-level representatives will remain in the Qatar
...an emirate on the east coast of the Arabian Peninsula. It sits on some really productive gas and oil deposits, which produces the highest per capita income in the world. They piss it all away on religion, financing the Moslem Brotherhood and several al-Qaeda affiliates. Home of nutbag holy manYusuf al-Qaradawi...
i capital.
The announcement followed reports that the renewed ceasefire and hostage deal talks in Qatar, which began last week following the release of Israeli-American hostage Edan Alexander, had yet to make any progress.
In a statement released by the Prime Minister’s Office, Netanyahu said that the high-level delegation members would be returning to Israel for consultations, "after about a week of intensive talks in Doha."
The Prime Minister’s Office reiterated that "Israel agrees to the American proposal for the return of the hostages, which is based on the Witkoff framework."
"This proposal was recently conveyed to Hamas
..the well-beloved offspring of the Moslem Brotherhood,...
via the mediators, but so far, it continues to cling to its refusal," it said.
The framework in question, presented by US special envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff, calls for a short-term ceasefire in the Gazoo
...Hellhole adjunct to Israel and Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, inhabited by Gazooks. The place was acquired in the wake of the 1967 War and then presented to Paleostinian control in 2006 by Ariel Sharon, who had entered his dotage. It is currently ruled with a rusty iron fist by Hamas with about the living conditions you'd expect. It periodically attacks the Hated Zionist Entity whenever Iran needs a ruckus created or the hard boyz get bored, getting thumped by the IDF in return. The ruling turbans then wave the bloody shirt and holler loudly about
oppressionand
disproportionate response...
Strip in exchange for the release of roughly half of the living hostages.
Earlier this week, the Axios news site reported that Witkoff was pressuring both Israel and Hamas to accept a proposal for the release of 10 living hostages in exchange for a 45-60 day truce, and the release of an unspecified number of Paleostinian security prisoners.
The report also said that US offer included modified language aimed at providing Hamas with guarantees that the temporary ceasefire could lead to a permanent one.
It was unclear whether the statement from the Prime Minister’s Office was referring to Witkoff’s original proposal or one with modified language.
Disputing Netanyahu’s claims regarding Israel’s willingness and Hamas’s refusal to accept the Witkoff proposal, a source involved in the negotiations told the Times of Israel that the premier mischaracterized the current status of the talks.
According to the source, mediators were still working to coax both sides, not just Hamas, to compromise on a number of issues.
"This is not a matter of just waiting for Hamas to say ’yes,'" the source said.
The source explained that negotiators were trying to come up with a temporary hostage deal that allows Hamas to claim the agreement will lead to the eventual end of the war, while also allowing Israel to continue claiming that it has not committed to doing so.
Given the lack of trust between the sides, this has been a difficult task to accomplish, the source said, while insisting that a deal is still possible.
The source noted that the senior members of Israel’s negotiating team called back from Qatar from the get-go did not play an integral role in the current round of talks, as Witkoff — who is also not in Doha — has been in continued contact with Netanyahu and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.
At the same time, Paleostinian-American political activist Bishara Bahbah has continued to operate a backchannel between the US and Hamas leaders in Qatar, where he arrived on Monday.
Netanyahu’s decision to recall the senior negotiators was nevertheless met with fury by the families of the hostages, who accused the government of having "no real plan to return the last hostage," despite frequently stating that it is working to do so.
"A majority of the nation supports the return of all the hostages, even at the price of ending the war," the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said. "Only the return of everyone, in one stage, will allow a process of rehabilitation and renewal for the country and the army."
"Hamas will not be defeated without the return of the last hostage," it added. "Until then, there will be no victory, nor even the appearance of victory."
Expressing a similar distaste for a deal which would free some captives while others remain in Gaza, bigwigs in the defense establishment were said on Tuesday to have informed Netanyahu that they are not willing to compile a partial list of hostages for release.
According to Channel 12 news, high-ranking Mosssd
...sees all, knows all, gets 'em all in the end...officials informed Mossad chief David Barnea that there was "no reasonable way" to create such a list, in which some living hostages would be freed while others remain behind for an unknown length of time, as all the captives are in equal need of being released.
In addition, a senior defense official was said to tell Netanyahu directly that they "will not compile a partial list."
"If it comes to that, I will give the data to Ron Dermer, let him decide, or let the prime minister decide," the official was said to have told the premier. "Or they’ll decide not to decide, and leave it to Hamas to determine the list."
"In any case, I made it clear that I will not be the one to decide who is released in a partial deal like this and who is not," the network quoted the official as saying.
The reported refusal to select which hostages will be freed and which will remain in Gaza differs from the latest ceasefire early this year, for which the list of those eligible for release was drawn up in the middle of 2024.
That list was based partly on information provided by the hostages’ families regarding their loved ones’ health conditions.
This time, however, Channel 12 cited a security bigshot as saying that they have asked "several times to convene a special discussion" to present decision-makers with available data on the hostages, but the request has not been accepted.
"They don’t want to," the official said. "They run away from it like fire. It’s clear to everyone that this is a highly explosive issue."
Netanyahu’s office denied the report and dismissed it as "another piece of fake news from an anonymous and irresponsible source on Channel 12."
"Prime Minister Netanyahu is fully and continuously updated on the condition of the hostages, according to the information available to Israel," the premier’s office added.
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are holding 58 hostages, including 57 of the 251 kidnapped by Hamas-led bully boyz on October 7, 2023.
They include the bodies of at least 35 confirmed dead by the IDF, and 20 are believed to be alive. There are grave concerns for the well-being of three others, Israeli officials have said.
Hamas released 30 hostages — 20 Israeli civilians, five soldiers and five Thai nationals — and the bodies of eight slain Israeli captives during a ceasefire between January and March, and one additional hostage, a dual American-Israeli citizen, in May as a "gesture" to the United States.
The terror group freed 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November 2023, and four hostages were released before that in the early weeks of the war. In exchange, Israel has freed some 2,000 placed in durance vile
Maw! They're comin' to get me, Maw!
Paleostinian terrorists, security prisoners, and Gazook terror suspects detained during the war.
Eight hostages have been rescued from captivity by troops alive, and the bodies of 41 have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors, and the body of a soldier who was killed in 2014.
The body of another soldier killed in 2014, Lt. Hadar Goldin, is still being held by Hamas, and is counted among the 58 hostages.