CIA director to travel to Qatar for Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal negotiations
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Mothers of hostages taken to the Gaza Strip on the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel lead a march calling for a hostage deal on Jul. 5, 2024 in Tel Aviv, Israel. Photo: Amir Levy/Getty Images
CIA director Bill Burns is expected to travel to Doha next week to join negotiations on the Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal, two Israeli sources said.
Why it matters: Burns is expected to hold a joint meeting with the Prime Minister of Qatar, the director of the Israeli Mossad and the head of the Egyptian intelligence service in an effort to push forward the deal that could lead to the release of 120 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza and end nine months of war.
- The CIA declined to comment.
Catch up quick: Israeli and U.S. officials are more optimistic than before that the latest back and forth with Hamas leaders can lead to a deal.
- A key remaining gap centers on Hamas' demand for written commitments from the U.S., Egypt and Qatar that negotiations over the second phase of the deal will continue with no time limit while the first phase of the deal is underway, Israeli officials told Axios.
- But Israeli and U.S. officials said Israel believes it is an issue that can and should be resolved in order to proceed to detailed negotiations on the implementation of the agreement.
The latest: Mossad director David Barnea traveled to Qatar on Friday and met with the prime minister of Qatar, two senior Israeli officials told Axios.
- The officials said Barnea conveyed a message to the deal's mediators that Israel does not accept Hamas' demand for a written commitment regarding negotiations for the second phase of the agreement.
- A statement from the Israeli Prime Minister's Office after the meeting said Israeli negotiators will travel to Doha next week to continue the talks.
Zoom in: Senior Israeli officials said the remaining gap between the parties regarding the framework of the deal is focused on Article 14 in the Israeli proposal, Axios reported on Friday.
- It concerns the duration of negotiations that Hamas and Israel are supposed to start during the first stage of the agreement in order to agree on the terms of the second phase of the agreement.
- According to the original language of Article 14, the U.S., Qatar and Egypt will "make every effort" to ensure this negotiation ends in an agreement and the ceasefire continues as long as the negotiations continue.
- In the response from Hamas delivered to Israel on Wednesday, the group demanded the words "make every effort" be deleted and replaced by the word "ensure."
- U.S. officials told Axios the Biden administration presented a compromise and offered to use the word "undertake," which the administration sees as less binding than the word "ensure" but more binding than "make every effort."
Between the lines: Israeli officials said if the agreement were to include the written commitment Hamas demands, the group would be able to draw out negotiations about the second phase of the deal indefinitely.
- Senior Israeli officials claim that in such a scenario, it would be very difficult for Israel to resume fighting without it being considered a violation of the agreement.
The other side: A Hamas representative told the Associated Press the group received "verbal commitment and guarantees" from mediators about continuing negotiations but said they wanted "these guarantees on paper."
What to watch: An Israeli official said an "expert level" Israeli delegation will travel to Doha early next week to begin discussing the remaining implementation issues.
- They include a timetable for Israeli Defense Forces redeployment in Gaza, the identity and sequence of the Palestinian prisoners who will be released from Israeli prisons and whether Israel will be able to veto the release of some prisoners.
What they're saying: White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters on Friday that President Biden is hopeful a deal can be reached but stressed there is still a lot of work to do.
- "It is time for the war to end," she added.
