Representatives of four countries agreed for Qatar to present a new framework to Hamas proposing a six-week pause in the war in Gaza so that Hamas would exchange some hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, officials say.
The talks are at an early stage and many details will have to be worked out if Hamas agrees to start building the framework, they said. Qatar presents the proposal to Hamas’ political leaders, who would forward it to the group’s military leaders, who would then send a response. This process can take days or longer because military leaders hide in tunnels deep under Gaza.
Under the proposed framework, Hamas would release elderly hostages, women and children, if any are still held captive and are alive, during the six-week pause period, said the officials, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity to describe the sensitive diplomacy. . This would be the first of three possible phases of exchanges.
During a seven-day standoff in November, many people in those categories were among more than 100 hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. But some remain in the hands of Hamas or other militants in Gaza.
Some Israeli officials say the number of hostages who will qualify for the first release is 30 to 35, but that is an estimate and negotiators do not know the actual number. It is unclear whether female soldiers will be included among the hostages released in the tranche under discussion. This could be resolved in negotiations on details if the talks reach this stage.
Hamas and other men from Gaza took about 240 people hostage in the Oct. 7 terror attacks in southern Israel, which also resulted in about 1,200 deaths, Israeli officials said. Israel’s military campaign of retaliation, backed by heavy weapons support from the United States, has killed an estimated 25,000 people in Gaza, according to health ministry officials there.
Since the November exchange, talks to release the hostages have stalled. Hamas has tried to steer any diplomacy toward discussing a permanent cease-fire, but Israeli leaders have refused. A meeting in Paris was intended to restart negotiations.
The terms of the broader framework were outlined on Sunday in Paris by representatives of the United States, Israel, Qatar and Egypt. William J. Burns, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, was there, as were the heads of Israel’s intelligence agency, the Mossad, and the internal security agency, Shin Bet.
One official said that Mr. Burns was very helpful in getting the Israeli representatives to agree to some of the proposals.
Israeli officials were expected to talk to leaders in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv about the framework after returning from Paris.
Qatar’s Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani flew from the Paris meeting to Washington, where he met with Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on Monday morning.
Mr Blinken declined to elaborate on the context at a press conference this afternoon, saying “the less said the better”. However, he said the proposal now on the table was “compelling” and that “there is some real hope in the future”.
He added that the countries in the talks are aligned with the initial framework that will be presented to Hamas.
However, he said, “Hamas will have to make its own decisions.”
Sheikh Mohammed said in a public address at the Atlantic Council after his meeting with Mr Blinken that “we are in a much better place than we were a few weeks ago”.
“Our main role as a mediator is to try to find a negotiated solution where he can bring the hostages safely back to their homes, but also stop the bombing,” he added.
If the first proposed hostage-for-prisoner exchange is successfully carried out during a six-week pause in the war, then two other phases on similar terms could be enacted after details are worked out, officials briefed on the talks said. Eventually, they said, Hamas may hand over male soldiers and the bodies of people who died in captivity.
Some officials from the countries participating in the talks said they hoped the phases would lead to a permanent ceasefire. That was the hope among Qatari officials during the November pause, but that ultimately collapsed as fighting resumed and negotiators were unable to extend it.
The New York Times reported on Saturday that US officials are trying to advance three major rounds of talks to bring about a political resolution to the war. The first – and what US officials see as the most urgent – concerns the hostages and a pause that could lead to a permanent ceasefire.
The second involves reshaping the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, the semi-autonomous body that administers parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. And the third is to try to get Israel to commit to a specific path to a Palestinian state in exchange for Saudi Arabia agreeing to formal diplomatic ties with Israel.
For months before the Oct. 7 attacks, the Biden administration had been talking to Saudi officials to offer them U.S. security guarantees if they agreed to normalize relations with Israel.
Michael Crowley contributed to the report.
