'We're trying to instigate a conversation around a deal'

After Sinwar’s death, Israel pursues parallel hostage deals, one small and one broad

Security cabinet debates spy chief’s efforts to free 5 hostages in exchange for 2-week ceasefire; timing of Iran strike not set, as Israel expects series of back-and-forth attacks

Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes a security cabinet meeting on July 28, 2024. (Haim Zach/GPO)
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convenes a security cabinet meeting on July 28, 2024. (Haim Zach/GPO)

Two parallel efforts are underway as Israel attempts to make progress toward a deal with Hamas that would see the release of hostages in Gaza, according to Israeli officials.

Mossad Director David Barnea has been pushing a broad deal that would bring both the war in Gaza and the expanding IDF campaign against Hezbollah in Lebanon to an end, alongside the release of all Israeli hostages, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel.

At a security cabinet meeting Sunday evening, meanwhile, ministers heard initial details about a different proposal, that would offer Hamas a two-week ceasefire in exchange for the release of five hostages, the Ynet news site reported.

The Israeli official said that this limited plan was discussed earlier Sunday by Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar in Cairo with Egyptian officials.

The cabinet meeting came days after IDF troops killed Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in Rafah. The terror chief had been described by Israel and US officials as the main obstacle toward progress in talks.

“He blocks everything or doesn’t respond,” an Israeli official told The Times of Israel before Sinwar was killed on October 16.

Ronen Bar (left), head of the Shin Bet security services, speaks with Mossad chief David Barnea during the annual Holocaust Remembrance Day ceremony at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Museum, Jerusalem, May 5, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The same official said Sunday night that it was “still too early” to observe any tangible progress after Sinwar’s demise.

“We are definitely trying to instigate the conversation around another hostage deal,” said the first official.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will be in Israel and other Middle Eastern states this week to push for the release of hostages and an end to the fighting. American officials have called Sinwar’s death an “opportunity” for a negotiated ceasefire and hostage deal.

He will meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu midday Tuesday, Netanyahu’s office said.

A young Palestinian boy holds up a portrait of slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar during a rally in the West Bank city of Ramallah, on October 18, 2024. (John Wessels/AFP)

Despite the Israeli and international push for a deal, ministers at the six-hour cabinet meeting Sunday night heard from Israeli negotiators that Hamas’s demands have not changed in the wake of the killing of Sinwar, according to Army Radio.

That may change, however, once Hamas’s new leadership emerges.

Back-and-forth strikes

The security cabinet meeting also dealt at length with Israel’s anticipated response to the Iranian ballistic missile attack on October 1.

“We are operating under the assumption that this will be part of a process of back-and-forth strikes between Israel and Iran,” said the first Israeli official.

An Israeli soldier gestures to Iranian ballistic missile components that were fired at Israel, during a government-organized media tour on a base in southern Israel, October 9, 2024. (AP/Maya Alleruzzo)

The cabinet on Sunday night did not vote on giving Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant the authority to decide on the timing of a strike on Iran, as had been expected, Yedioth Ahronoth reported.

The two want to give the green light for Israel’s response to Iran’s ballistic missile attack at the last minute, as was the case with the strike that killed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in late September, the report said.

Such votes can be conducted within minutes by phone.

Israeli security forces stand guard near a barrier on a street leading to the Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s residence in Caesarea on October 19, 2024, after a drone was launched toward his residence from Lebanon. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

According to Yedioth, ministers expressed frustration at the ostensibly “weak response” to the drone attack on Netanyahu’s house last week, which they believe Iran approved. Members of the security services responded that they only execute the directives of the political echelon.

The first Israeli official said that the strike on Iran won’t be impacted by the drone attack on the prime minister’s Caesarea home, but that there would be a significant response to the incident.

Army Radio also reported that the ministers discussed how to move forward on humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, in light of a letter from the US secretaries of state and defense warning of potential disruptions to some arms transfers if more aid is not let into Gaza.

US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin gestures as he speaks to Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. (unseen) during a meeting at the Malacanang presidential palace in Manila in Manila, Philippines on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. U.S. Secretary of Sate Antony Blinken is at right. (AP Photo/Basilio Sepe, Pool)

Last week, Blinken and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned Gallant and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer that Israel has one month to implement significant improvements to the humanitarian situation in Gaza or jeopardize the continued supply of US weapons.

The US is pushing for hundreds more trucks of aid per day to be allowed into the Strip, and is concerned about Israeli legislation that would bar UNRWA from operating in Israel.

In July, the Knesset approved the first reading of a trio of bills aimed at shutting down the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees and their descendants.

According to Ynet, the Foreign Ministry presented the dangers of passing the UNRWA legislation, which is supported by 100 MKs. One of the dangers is that Israel would be found in violation of the UN charter and could be expelled.

Ministers expressed frustration that the dangers weren’t made clear before the legislation began moving through the Knesset.

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