US presses for hostage deal as Israel and Qatar spar

CIA chief to visit Europe to advance talks; leaked recording appeared to show Israel’s Netanyahu criticising the Gulf state.

The funeral in Tel Aviv of Israeli-Filipino soldier Cedric Green, one of 21 soldiers killed in a single incident the Gaza Strip this week. Picture: AFP

America’s spy chief prepared to head to Europe for talks aimed at bringing an end to the war in the Gaza Strip, as tensions boiled over between Qatar and Israel after weeks of strained negotiations over a hostage deal.

The Biden administration plans to send CIA director William J. Burns to Europe in the coming days to meet with the Qatari prime minister, along with negotiators from the Egyptian and Israeli intelligence agencies, officials familiar with the talks said Thursday.

Israel and Hamas remain far apart on key issues such as when Israeli forces would leave Gaza and when Palestinians forced from their homes by Israeli evacuation orders will be able to return, the officials said.

The U.S. push comes as a long-simmering feud between Qatar and Israel erupted this week. Qatar, one of the main Middle East mediators trying to end the fighting in Gaza, denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over disparaging comments he apparently made about the Gulf nation in a leaked recording broadcast this week by Israeli media. In the recording, first aired by Israel’s Channel 12 news, a person reported to be Netanyahu told families with relatives held hostage in Gaza that he found Qatar, which openly hosts top Hamas leaders, to be “problematic.” “I have no illusions about them,” he said, according to the recording. A spokesman for the Israeli prime minister’s office declined to comment on the recording but didn’t dispute its authenticity.

Smoke billows over buildings in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip during Israeli bombardment on Thursday. Picture: AFP

Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said it was “appalled” by Netanyahu’s reported comments, which it called “irresponsible and destructive to the efforts to save innocent lives.” The verbal feud created friction between the two countries, but didn’t appear to put a damper on American efforts aimed at ending the war in Gaza and containing a broader Middle East conflict stretching from Yemen to Lebanon.

The return of Burns, who has played a central role in America’s diplomatic efforts around Gaza, injects new momentum into the talks. The CIA chief was a key negotiator in last November’s week long truce that led to the release of more than 100 Israeli and foreign hostages seized during the Hamas-led assault on Israel on Oct. 7 in return for the release of hundreds of Palestinians held by Israel. The talks broke down and Israel stepped up its military campaign in Gaza in an effort to put more battlefield pressure on Hamas to negotiate. Burns’s planned visit to Europe was earlier reported by the Washington Post.

In recent days, Qatar and Egypt have been pushing a new diplomatic effort to end the war in Gaza. The White House sent its top Middle East envoy, Brett McGurk, to Egypt and Qatar this week to try to bridge the serious divides between the various parties.

Israel and Hamas have rejected various proposals made via Egypt and Qatar following the end of the last ceasefire on Nov. 30, but they now largely agree on a framework that includes several phases and a potential long-term ceasefire.

The first phase would likely involve the release of about 10 civilian women and children in exchange for a significant pause in fighting and a substantial increase in the flow of aid into Gaza, officials familiar with the matter said. The second phase would see Hamas freeing roughly 40 elderly and injured people, as well as Israeli female soldiers. The following phases would see the release of male soldiers and dead bodies, these officials said.

A wounded man receives treatment in Gaza City's Al-Shifa hospital. Picture: AFP

Hamas has demanded a ceasefire of at least 10 years, 100 Palestinian prisoners to be released for each civilian hostage and international guarantees to remain in Gaza, as well as the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, before the first phase starts, according to the officials. Israeli officials told negotiators that it was willing to offer a two-month ceasefire, which could be extended depending on how the situation evolves, and that it would pull its troops out of Gaza but keep surveillance, they added.

Qatar has been under pressure to use its ties to Hamas to secure the release of the roughly 130 remaining hostages. Its ability to mediate with Hamas has been useful to the West. U.S. and European officials are prevented from contacting the group directly by their governments’ classification of it as a terrorist organisation. With Washington’s blessing, the Qatari capital Doha has served as the group’s political base for over a decade and, in co-ordination with Israel, it has funnelled billions of dollars in aid to Gaza under Hamas rule.

But the country’s ties to Hamas have also served as a trigger for criticism that it supports terrorism, which Doha denies.

Egyptian officials said that for weeks, Israeli officials have been privately lobbying Egypt, which communicates directly with Hamas’s military wing and often with its political leadership, to take a bigger role in hostage talks, citing concerns that Qatar wasn’t putting enough pressure on Hamas in Doha. Israeli officials have told their Egyptian counterparts that if Doha doesn’t succeed in securing the release of more hostages, Israel would demand that Qatar chooses sides and no longer sponsors Hamas, Egyptian officials said.

Qatar has in recent weeks pressed Hamas political leaders in Doha to tone down their anti-Israel statements and adopt a more balanced stand, Egyptian and Hamas officials familiar with the matter said. A senior Hamas official said Qatar went as far as to warn that the group could be forced to leave the country if it doesn’t compromise.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, the country’s prime minister and foreign minister, has personally led a coterie of diplomats and lawyers in recent mediation efforts. He said in a recent interview that maintaining ties with Hamas, alongside the Taliban and pariah states such as Iran and Venezuela, is aimed at defusing tensions and building Qatar’s own influence.

Beyond trying to save lives, “there’s also a national security consideration,” he said. “The stability of the region is connected to the stability of my country and our international allies.” On Wednesday, though, some Qatari officials warned negotiators that if Netanyahu doesn’t soften his criticism of Qatar, the Gulf state would suspend its role in the hostage talks, Egyptian officials said.

Palestinians stand amid the rubble of buildings destroyed in Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Thursday. Picture: AFP

Qatar’s history with the group, some analysts say, gives it an incentive to ensure that Hamas remains relevant in Gaza after the war ends, clashing with Israeli objectives to destroy the militants. Indeed, some Israeli officials hit back at Qatar’s criticism of Netanyahu’s apparent remarks.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who has refused to release millions of dollars his government collects for the Palestinian Authority, accused the Gulf nation of being “largely responsible” for the Oct. 7 attack, which the Israeli government said killed around 1,200 people and led to the capture of 240 others.

“One thing is clear: Qatar will not be involved in what happens in Gaza the day after the war,” Smotrich wrote on X.

The Biden administration is facing increasing domestic and political pressure to bring an end to the deadly conflict. Israel is facing accusations it is committing genocide in Gaza — a charge it vehemently denies — and the International Court of Justice was expected to issue a preliminary ruling on Friday over a legal case brought by South Africa over the charge.

The war in Gaza, triggered by the Hamas attack, has left more than 25,000 Palestinians dead, most of them women and children, according to health officials in the strip. The figures don’t distinguish between civilians and combatants. More than 240 Israeli soldiers have died since Israel launched the war. Much of the Gaza Strip’s population has been forced from their homes by the war, which has created a complex humanitarian crisis.

On Thursday, the United Nations called for an end to fighting around Gaza Strip hospitals and shelters where thousands of Palestinians have sought sanctuary. On Wednesday, the U.N. said that two tank shells hit one of its temporary shelters in the city of Khan Younis, which has been encircled by Israeli forces. The U.N. said that the death toll from the strike had risen to 12 and that 75 others were injured, 15 of whom were in a critical condition.

While the U.N. didn’t say if Israel or Hamas was responsible for the deaths, the Israeli army is the only one to employ tanks in Gaza. The Israeli military said Wednesday that it was looking into the possibility that Hamas was responsible for the strike. The military said its artillery and planes weren’t responsible for the killings, but didn’t say whether its tanks could have been involved.

The White House said it was “gravely concerned” about the strike and said it was looking into who was responsible.

Anat Peled, Sabrina Siddiqui and Warren P. Strobel contributed to this article.

The Wall Street Journal