Israeli negotiating team wraps up first day of renewed hostage talks in Doha

Gaps between Israel and Hamas reportedly remain on almost all issues being negotiated; Israel said considering reducing Gaza aid after Trump’s inauguration to squeeze Hamas further

Family, friends and activists hold posters of Israeli brothers Gili and Ziv Berman, who are held hostage by the Hamas terror group in Gaza, during a protest march for their release in Tel Aviv, December 26, 2024. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)
Family, friends and activists hold posters of Israeli brothers Gili and Ziv Berman, who are held hostage by the Hamas terror group in Gaza, during a protest march for their release in Tel Aviv, December 26, 2024. (Tomer Neuberg/Flash90)

A mid-level Israeli hostage negotiating team held talks on Friday with Qatari mediators, who were also hosting Hamas representatives in Doha for parallel discussions, in efforts to overcome sustained differences between the warring parties.

Talks had stalled for roughly a week and a half after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called back Israel’s negotiating team from Qatar for internal deliberations on December 25. Since then, optimism about the potential for a deal before US President-elect Donald Trump’s January 20 inauguration waned.

A senior Israeli official told Axios that Israel and Hamas remain at an impasse over almost all topics being negotiated, including the Israel Defense Forces’ presence in the Netzarim and Philadelphi corridors, the Israeli demand to deport some Palestinian security prisoners released in the deal, the frequency at which hostages will be released, and the start date of negotiations over the deal’s second stage.

The official said that the negotiations were advancing very slowly and that it would become clear whether a deal could be reached within a week.

“The negotiating team traveled to Doha to fine-tune the agreement,” the official nonetheless insisted. “All remaining gaps can be bridged. We want to do this and reach a deal, and we believe the other side wants to as well,” the Israeli official said.

A second official said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “wants a deal, and right now everyone is mainly waiting for Hamas’s response.”

The officials told Axios there is “cautious optimism” that a deal could be reached in the coming weeks, particularly because of increased pressure on Hamas from Qatari and Egyptian mediators, along with threats from Trump, who has warned there will be “all hell to pay” if the hostages are not released by his inauguration.

US President-elect Donald Trump arrives on New Year’s Eve at his Mar-A-Lago Club on December 31, 2024, in Palm Beach, Florida. (Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images/AFP)

One of the main sticking points is Hamas’s refusal to hand over a list of hostages it would release in the deal’s first stage. This stage is supposed to see the release of women, men over the age of 50, and men under the age of 50 in serious medical condition.

According to Axios, Israel gave Hamas a list of 34 hostages it wants released in the first stage. An Israeli official told the outlet that while Israel assumes some of the hostages on the list are not alive, “the goal is for as many of the alive hostages as possible on that list to be released.”

Hamas claims that a third of the hostages on the Israeli list are men under 50, whom it considers to be soldiers, and therefore demands the release of a higher number of security prisoners in return, including prisoners who murdered Israelis.

An Israeli official told Axios that Israel has prepared a list of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners it is prepared to release if a deal is reached, but the precise number and identities of the prisoners will only be determined based on the hostages Hamas is willing to release.

In a statement, Hamas said the current round of talks in Doha would “focus on ensuring the agreement leads to a complete cessation of hostilities [and] the withdrawal of occupation forces from the Gaza Strip.” Netanyahu, however, has refused to commit to a complete end to the war, and stated that the fight against Hamas will resume at the conclusion of any deal, and continue until Hamas’s military and civil governance capabilities are destroyed.

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim said in a statement that the terror group is serious about seeking to reach a deal as soon as possible.

The mid-level Israeli negotiating team sent to Doha was comprised of representatives from the IDF, Mossad and Shin Bet security agency.

Before the delegation was dispatched, Netanyahu held a conference with top security officials to discuss the scope of the group’s mandate in Qatar.

The mandate approved by Netanyahu was reportedly not as broad as the negotiators requested. However, it was still wide enough for additional progress to be made, Channel 12 reported Friday, citing unnamed sources familiar with the matter.

White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby praised Netanyahu’s decision to dispatch the negotiating team, calling the move “an encouraging step.”

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby speaks during a press briefing at the White House, Wednesday, July 31, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

While Kirby stressed that an agreement “is both urgent and possible,” he acknowledged that there was no breakthrough in the talks to report.

He again laid the onus on Hamas to end the war by agreeing to a ceasefire and hostage release deal.

Arab mediators have avoided publicly placing the blame on either side, while privately arguing that Netanyahu’s refusal to end the war in exchange for the release of all hostages is the main obstacle to a deal.

It is believed that 96 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the IDF.

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 38 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.

Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.

Possible Gaza aid restrictions

Channel 12 reported Friday that Israel is considering significantly restricting the amount of humanitarian aid entering Gaza once Trump enters office on January 20.

The move is reportedly aimed at dismantling Hamas’s governing capabilities in Gaza, which Jerusalem says the terror group has been able to maintain after nearly 15 months of war by controlling much of the humanitarian aid that enters the Strip.

A truck delivering flour to Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza on December 6, 2024. (COGAT)

Hamas fighters have been known to charge fees in exchange for the release of aid convoys upon their entry into Gaza.

Only a limited amount of aid is entering Gaza to begin with, and a further siphoning would likely exacerbate the ongoing humanitarian crisis.

The security establishment has long warned Netanyahu that military pressure against Hamas without the advancement of a viable alternative to its rule will allow the terror group to fill any vacuums temporarily created by IDF operations.

Netanyahu has refused to grant the Palestinian Authority a foothold in Gaza to replace Hamas, despite gestures from Arab allies who have offered to assist in the post-war reconstruction and stabilization of the Strip in exchange.

Airstrikes in Gaza

The IDF said Friday that dozens of airstrikes were carried out against dozens of Hamas targets in Gaza over the past 24 hours.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry said more than 40 people were killed on Friday after 71 were killed a day earlier including in Al-Mawasi, an area in central Gaza previously declared a humanitarian safe zone by Israeli authorities.

Palestinians check the destruction in the aftermath of an Israeli strike in the al-Maghazi camp in the central Gaza Strip on January 3, 2025. (Eyad Baba/AFP)

The IDF said it had hit around 40 Hamas gathering points as well as command and control centers. It said it had taken numerous measures to reduce the risk of harming civilians, including using precise munitions, aerial surveillance, and other intelligence.

It accused Hamas of placing fighters in civilian areas including buildings formerly used as schools, where it said troops had found some weapons.

On Friday, the military told civilians in the area of al-Bureij in central Gaza to evacuate ahead of an operation it ordered after Hamas rockets were fired from the area. It said residents should move to the humanitarian zone for their safety.

Elsewhere, Israeli troops have been battling Hamas fighters holding out in towns around the northern end of the enclave for the past month and continued to find weapons stores and underground infrastructure, the IDF said.

War broke out on October 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorists invaded Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped 251.

The Hamas-run Gaza health ministry says more than 45,000 people in the Strip have been killed or are presumed dead in the fighting so far, though the toll cannot be verified and does not differentiate between civilians and fighters. Israel says it has killed some 18,000 combatants in battle as of November and another 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.

Israel has said it seeks to minimize civilian fatalities and stresses that Hamas uses Gaza’s civilians as human shields, fighting from civilian areas including homes, hospitals, schools and mosques.

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