Negotiators to head to Qatar as Israel denies Hamas claim of progress on 2nd truce phase
Team to fly out Monday; Netanyahu holding security consultations as sides remain at loggerheads over how to move forward; Israel said planning escalatory campaign if talks fail
Lazar Berman is The Times of Israel's diplomatic reporter
Israel will send a negotiating team to Qatar on Monday to continue efforts to extend the ceasefire-hostage deal in Gaza, the Prime Minister’s Office announced Saturday night.
“Israel agreed to the invitation of the mediators backed by the US, and will send a delegation to Doha on Monday in an attempt to make progress in the negotiations,” according to the PMO.
The delegation will be headed by the government’s hostage point man Gal Hirsch, and senior Shin Bet official “M.,” an Israeli official told The Times of Israel. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s political adviser Ophir Falk will also join the delegation. The delegation that flew to Qatar in February was made up of the same officials.
M. is flying in place of the head of the security agency, Ronen Bar, whom Netanyahu removed from his negotiating role and is reportedly looking to fire.
The development comes after unconfirmed Arabic media reports that Hamas has indicated it is willing to agree to a temporary extension of the first phase of the ceasefire over Ramadan, including the release of more hostages.
Hamas said Saturday that there were “positive indicators” that discussions could begin on the second stage of the ceasefire-hostage deal in Gaza, as officials from the terror group were in Cairo for talks with mediators.
“We affirm our readiness to engage in the second phase negotiations in a way that meets the demands of our people,” a Hamas spokesman said. “And we call for intensified efforts to aid the Gaza Strip and lift the blockade on our suffering people.”
An Israeli official told The Times of Israel that he was unaware of any progress in talks toward a second phase.
The Saudi Al Arabiya channel reported on Saturday that an agreement had been reached on extending the ceasefire during the month of Ramadan, which ends on March 29.
The outlet was light on details and only cited “sources.” It did not say how many hostages Hamas would ostensibly release as part of such an extension. There was no outside confirmation of the report.
A similarly unconfirmed item from the Saudi Al Hadath outlet also asserted that Hamas has agreed to release some living hostages in exchange for a two-month extension to the first phase of the ceasefire deal.
Last Saturday, the first phase of the ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas officially drew to a close. Talks regarding the terms of a potential second phase were supposed to have begun on February 3, but Israel has effectively refused to engage in them, as phase two would require Israel to withdraw fully from Gaza and agree to a permanent end to the war in exchange for the remaining living hostages.
Israel has sought to extend the first phase to enable further hostage releases without committing to an end to the war, but Hamas has so far rejected this.
It is not clear where the tense standoff between Israel and Hamas goes from here, with 59 hostages still in Gaza, up to 24 of them still alive, according to Israel.
Netanyahu was to hold a situation assessment by phone Saturday evening on efforts to free the hostages, an Israeli official told The Times of Israel. According to Channel 12, a small group of ministers were invited to take part, as was Shas party chairman Aryeh Deri.
On Sunday, Netanyahu will convene his cabinet, and later his security cabinet, to discuss the path forward.
The meetings come amid the first signs of significant tension between Jerusalem and the Trump administration, after it emerged that Washington held direct talks with Hamas on the release of American citizens captured by the terror group.
Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer “lashed out” at US hostage envoy Adam Boehler during a Tuesday phone call after Israel learned of an unprecedented meeting that the Trump aide held with a senior Hamas delegation led by Khalil al-Hayya earlier that day in Doha to discuss the potential release, a Western official told The Times of Israel on Friday.
Boehler tried to explain that these were only initial discussions with Hamas and that nothing would be finalized without Israel’s approval, the Western official said.
Meanwhile, Kan news on Saturday cited a senior Israeli source as confirming a Sky News Arabia report from last week that the US was offering Hamas a deal in which 10 living Israeli hostages would be released in exchange for a 60-day ceasefire.
Israel is “barely involved,” and the talks with Hamas are occurring “over Israel’s head,” according to the report.
Israel has avoided publicly criticizing the US over its unprecedented direct talks with Hamas, but Netanyahu’s office issued a terse statement on Wednesday that more than hinted at its opposition. “Israel has expressed to the United States its position regarding direct talks with Hamas,” the statement read.
According to Axios, the Biden administration, at one point in the war, held semi-official talks with Hamas. But “these talks went nowhere because what Hamas wanted was a ceasefire and prisoners, and it was in Israel’s hands, not ours,” said a former Biden adviser, who added that direct talks would have complicated the official negotiations.
In what could be an attempt to get beyond last week’s tensions, Netanyahu on Saturday offered public thanks to the US president for backing Israel against Hamas.
“Thank you President Trump for once again boldly supporting Israel in our just war against the monstrous Hamas terrorists,” Netanyahu wrote on X, belatedly sharing a Thursday post by Trump in which he again warned Hamas that if it doesn’t free the hostages it is holding in Gaza, “there will be hell to pay.”
Trump also shared photos of his White House meeting with eight released Israeli hostages.
Thank you President Trump for once again boldly supporting Israel in our just war against the monstrous Hamas terrorists. https://t.co/n49QOk3zsH
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) March 8, 2025
The Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend that Israel has plans for an escalatory campaign against Hamas if Netanyahu eventually decides that hostage talks with Hamas are fruitless or that the terror groups’ demands are too high.
The report pointed at Israel possibly cutting off electricity and water as the next stage after it halted aid shipments into the Strip.
Citing an “Israeli security analyst briefed on the plan,” the WSJ said that Israel could then use airstrikes and raids. The analyst added that the next stage could be military forces once again pushing Palestinians out of northern Gaza.
European support for Arab plan
The foreign ministers of France, Germany, Italy and Britain said on Saturday that they support an Arab-backed plan for the reconstruction of Gaza that would cost $53 billion and avoid displacing Palestinians from the enclave.
“The plan shows a realistic path to the reconstruction of Gaza and promises – if implemented – swift and sustainable improvement of the catastrophic living conditions for the Palestinians living in Gaza,” the ministers said in a joint statement.
The plan, which was drawn up by Egypt and adopted by Arab leaders earlier this month, has been rejected by US President Donald Trump and Israel, although there have been mixed signals from Washington.
US special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff called the proposal a “good faith first step” with “a lot of compelling features to it.” Hours later, though, State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce characterized the proposal as “inadequate.”
Egypt’s proposal — which doesn’t mention Hamas — received the endorsement of the Arab League summit in Cairo on Tuesday. The plan was hurriedly put together after Arab nations were spooked by Trump’s proposal in early February to take over Gaza, oust its residents, and rebuild the Strip as a “Riviera of the Middle East.”
The Arab plan envisions an independent committee of technocrats running Gaza for a six-month period before handing off control of the Strip to the Palestinian Authority. It provides for Palestinians to remain in the Strip while it is being rebuilt, as opposed to Trump’s proposal that the entire population be relocated.
Netanyahu has embraced the Trump plan, which the president explains is grounded in the belief that Gaza has become uninhabitable.
According to a United Nations analysis from September, over two-thirds of Gaza’s structures have been damaged or destroyed amid the war in Gaza sparked on October 7, 2023, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists stormed southern Israel to kill some 1,200 people and take 251 hostages.
Jacob Magid and AP contributed to this report.
