Biden to convene aides on hostage talks as new Hamas demands sink hopes for deal
‘Frustrated’ White House pushing Egypt and Qatar to convince terror group to back down after it insisted on the release of more terror convicts serving life sentences
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
With attempts to forge a hostage release deal seemingly adrift, US President Joe Biden was expected on Monday to convene his National Security Council to try to find a way forward to free hostages from Hamas captivity and end the fighting in the Gaza Strip.
White House officials told senior Egyptian and Qatari officials earlier Monday that the US was “frustrated” with new Hamas demands on the release of prisoners serving life sentences in Israeli prisons, which it is seeking in exchange for hostages it has held since October 7, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
The Biden administration also asked Cairo and Doha to push Hamas to back off its recent demands, according to the source, who wasn’t authorized to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
The talks come after reports indicated growing pessimism in the US that a deal will be possible, with a senior US official describing new Hamas demands that terrorists serving life sentences be released for civilian hostages in the first stage as a “poison pill,” in remarks reported by the Washington Post Sunday.
Until now, the formula was that hardened terrorists would only be released for kidnapped IDF soldiers — including 150 life-term murderers to be released from Israeli jails during the first phase in return for the five female surveillance soldiers held hostage.
Up until days ago, the US had been widely expected to put out a new proposal aimed at bridging gaps between the sides. However, those plans have apparently been shelved.
After talks failed to advance in recent weeks, the US was widely expected to put forward a new proposal to bridge gaps between the sides on a hostage and ceasefire deal. But with Hamas’s hardened stance, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel on Monday that the US was being cautious and did not want to release a proposal it knows Hamas will reject.
Reports Sunday indicated that there was broad pessimism over chances for a deal both among Israeli negotiators and US mediators, who were unhappy with both Hamas’s demands and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence that troops remain on the Gaza-Egypt border, as well as his recent public comments.
However, two senior US officials involved in hostage negotiations told a policy conference in Washington, DC, on Monday that disagreements over the Philadelphi Corridor on the border, which Israel says will be used by Hamas to smuggle in arms from the Sinai, were not the reason there is no deal.
Instead, according to the Ynet news site, they blamed the new Hamas demands.
The officials at the invitation-only Middle East-America Dialogue reportedly noted that the Philadelphi Corridor is not even mentioned in the existing proposal. Rather, the point of contention is whether the route is considered to be in a densely populated area; the current proposal stipulates an Israeli withdrawal from such areas.
The issue is “exaggerated,” they said, adding that the prisoner release is the main sticking point. They claimed there had been agreement on the issue, but progress was derailed when Hamas murdered six hostages in late August and the terms of the swap were changed.
Contradicting reports and comments indicating that the US had lost patience with Israel as well as Hamas, the officials reportedly claimed that Israel did not need to be pressured, and said families of hostages were mistaken to denounce Netanyahu over the lack of a deal.
At times, they allowed, Israel could do a bit more, but they are focused on Hamas.
Families of hostages and their allies have held near-nightly rallies demanding a deal and increasingly blaming Netanyahu and his coalition for putting stiff demands, and what they allege are personal political considerations, ahead of the lives of captives. Far-right members of Netanyahu’s cabinet have threatened to bring down the government if a deal is agreed to that includes a ceasefire, a key Hamas demand.
On Monday night, hostage families and supporters demonstrated outside the home of Shas leader Aryeh Deri in Jerusalem, whose party is part of Netanyahu’s coalition.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum called on the public to demand that Deri take action to back up his support for a hostage deal.
Deri has reportedly pushed to expand the coalition in order to dilute the influence of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who opposes a deal under the terms presented by the US.
Plan B
A report by Channel 13 said Netanyahu’s criticism of Egypt as unable to police the border with Gaza last week had led Cairo to reject a request from Israel and US to reconvene top negotiators for talks recently.
“The Egyptians felt that Netanyahu made them out to be a banana republic,” a senior Israeli official told Channel 13.
With expectations for a ceasefire in Gaza in the foreseeable future almost nonexistent, the Biden administration is starting to prepare a diplomatic “plan B” to stop the fighting in the north between Israel and Hezbollah, Kan news reported Monday.
Israeli officials told their American counterparts that they may not be able to wait until a diplomatic solution is arranged before ordering a major military operation against the Iran-backed terror group.
On Sunday, unnamed Israeli sources told Channel 12 that the chances of a phased hostage-ceasefire agreement being achieved on the basis of Israel’s May proposal are “close to zero” and there is “very broad pessimism” among the Israeli negotiators.
They blamed Netanyahu’s Hebrew press conference last Monday, at which he repeatedly insisted on maintaining IDF control of the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border — a stance that was not specified in the Netanyahu-approved May proposal. Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar then hardened his positions, the report said.
The network said a senior Israeli negotiator had told hostage families that “not even the first phase” of the deal — a six-week ceasefire in which some 30 living women, children, elderly and ailing hostages would be released — was likely to happen at the moment.
US officials cited by Axios meanwhile said there was “significant pessimism” at the White House after Hamas demanded that Israel release 100 more life-term murderers than had been agreed upon.
It is believed that 97 hostages abducted during Hamas’s October 7 onslaught remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 33 confirmed dead by the IDF.
The shock assault saw thousands of Hamas-led terrorists storm southern Israel to kill nearly 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that.
Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 37 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the Israeli military as they tried to escape their captors.
AP contributed to this report.
