The return of the negotiating team from Qatar is an indication that talks are stuck, an official in the Prime Minister’s Office tells The Times of Israel.
However, the Kan public broadcaster quotes an unnamed official involved in talks with a more positive spin on the move. “The talks did not collapse,” the official says. “This is a move coordinated between all the sides. There are fateful decisions that need to be made, and therefore the delegation came back for continued consultations. The momentum is still positive.”
A senior official and source familiar with the details tells Axios that Hamas is insisting that Israel free 200 Palestinians serving life sentences and 2,000 Palestinians arrested in Gaza after October 7 in exchange for the release of 10 living hostages.
Senior Israeli officials told US special envoy Steve Witkoff that the Hamas demands are “unacceptable,” says one of the sources, adding that Israel does not see Hamas’s demands as final.
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