Reports: Israeli team to Qatar lacks power to discuss 2nd phase, is only sent to prevent Hamas halting hostage releases

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has only agreed to send a negotiating team to Qatar to avoid giving Hamas a pretext to halt the ongoing hostage deal, and the delegation won’t be empowered to actually discuss the second phase of the ceasefire, according to Hebrew media reports.

Israel has said it will send a team to Doha, the Qatari capital, for talks in the coming days.

Under the initial ceasefire deal, talks on the second stage were set to have started from the 16th day of the truce, which was yesterday. The second stage would end the war and see the release of the remaining living hostages.

However, the Walla news site reports, citing an unnamed senior Israeli official, that Netanyahu only agreed to send the team under pressure from the White House’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff to avoid a situation in which Hamas cites the lack of phase-two negotiations to stop freeing hostages as part of the deal’s ongoing first phase.

Moreover, Channel 13 news reports not only did Netanyahu have reservations about sending the delegation — it won’t even have the power to negotiate the terms of the second phase.