Hamas source says Doha talks ‘tense’ as Israel brought new conditions to the table — report

A Hamas source claims that talks in Doha to close a hostage release deal came to an impasse because Israel brought new conditions to the table that the terror group has already rejected.

“The scene at the negotiating table has become tense,” the source tells the Saudi Al-Araby al-Jadeed newspaper.

The source is quoted as saying that Israel presented a demand that Hamas release the bodies of two fallen IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, held in Gaza since 2014, during the first six-week pause in fighting.

Hamas has to date conditioned any further hostage releases on an Israeli commitment to a permanent ceasefire, a demand Israel has rejected outright, vowing to resume its military campaign after any hostage-truce deal has been implemented.

“Hamas’s position is firm, and it will not accept surrender towards which Tel Aviv is pushing it by accepting a submission agreement,” the source is quoted as saying.

The source further says that Israel tried “by several means” during the last round of talks in Qatar to get confirmation that Marwan Issa, deputy head of Hamas’s military wing, was killed in a recent IDF strike.

“If, as they say, they know everything that is happening in Gaza, and are certain he was eliminated, and they implicated the US administration in declaring his martyrdom, why are they trying in various ways to obtain information about him?” the source asks.

Last week, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan confirmed that Issa had been killed in an Israeli strike, becoming the first official in any government to publicly do so.

CIA director Bill Burns, Mossad chief David Barnea and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar departed Qatar late last night to brief their teams back home on the latest talks, which aimed to finalize an agreement for a six-week truce in Gaza and the release of some 40 children, women, elderly and sick hostages in the first phase, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and an increase of humanitarian aid to the Strip.

Of 253 hostages abducted by Hamas and other terrorists from Israel on October 7, 2023, some 130 are still held captive in Gaza, though not all are alive.