Report: Efforts being made to renew hostage, truce talks within days in Doha

Family members of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza protest outside the final rehearsal for the official 76th Independence Day ceremony at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, May 9, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)
Family members of Israelis held hostage by Hamas terrorists in Gaza protest outside the final rehearsal for the official 76th Independence Day ceremony at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, May 9, 2024. (Yonatan Sindel/Flash90)

Diplomats are working to resume indirect talks on a potential truce and hostage deal within a few days in Doha, the London-based New Arab daily reports, citing Egyptian and Western sources.

Sources tell the news outlet that Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani has invited Egypt’s Intelligence chief Abbas Kamel and CIA Director William Burns to revive the talks, but it is unclear if they will attend.

Negotiations appeared to break down this week when Hamas on Monday claimed to have accepted a truce agreement with Israel, though it later emerged that the proposal it said had come from Egyptian and Qatari mediators included several elements fundamentally different to those Israel had agreed to.

Jerusalem swiftly rejected the proposal for falling short of its “vital demands,” but okayed dispatching a working-level delegation to the indirect talks in Cairo. After gaps could not be closed, both Israeli and Hamas teams departed Egypt on Friday.

Most Popular