Burns is expected to travel to Europe for the talks and meet with Israeli and Egyptian intelligence chiefs David Barnea and Abbas Kamel and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive negotiations. . The planned rally has not been previously reported.
Egypt and Qatar have been key interlocutors between Israel and Hamas, the militant group whose deadly cross-border attack on October 7 sparked the war in Gaza. The two countries helped secure an initial cessation of hostilities and the release of the hostages in November. But tensions between the Israelis and Qataris reached the brink after an audio recording of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was leaked, showing the Israeli leader insulting Qatar in a conversation with the families of the Israeli hostages.
Burns' discussions in Europe are expected to rely on his phone conversations with his counterparts, as well as the work of the White House's chief Middle East official, Brett McGurk, who this week held related meetings in the Qatari capital, Doha, and in Cairo.
The latest Israeli proposal includes a 60-day cessation of fighting in exchange for the gradual release of more than 100 prisoners, starting with civilian women and children, followed by civilian and military men, men, and the remains of those who have died since their capture. abduction. Such a pause would allow Israel to continue fighting after a two-month period of calm in line with Netanyahu's pledge to achieve “total victory” by destroying Hamas.
The CIA declined to comment.
The Israelis also suggested that senior Hamas leaders agree to leave Gaza, but an official familiar with the negotiations said the idea was not acceptable to the group and its military leaders, who are willing to die as martyrs in the Palestinian enclave. Hamas also rejected Israel's proposal for a 60-day ceasefire, saying the upcoming hostage release must include a permanent ceasefire, the official said.
But several officials said negotiations on these key points remain active.
Samir Farag, a former Egyptian general and defense official, said that both Hamas and Israel have shown a willingness to return to the negotiating table.
“Everyone wants peace – the Palestinians, Hamas, the Israelis. But everyone wants to win the negotiations.” “We are trying to reach a compromise.”
Faraj said that Hamas's holding of hostages puts the group “in a very strong position.”
He added: “I think Netanyahu is under pressure, because everyone on the street in Israel wants the hostages released.” “So he has to do something, otherwise he will have a big problem – especially because he lost a lot of soldiers in the war there.” Some terms of the negotiations were reported by Axios and CNN.
The discussions come at a time when Israeli forces are besieging the area The southern city of Khan Yunis, where senior Hamas leaders are believed to be located. The United Nations accused Israel of bombing a UN compound housing 30,000 displaced people on Wednesday, which sparked rare condemnation from the United States. Israel denied responsibility.
Humanitarian organizations reported that thousands of civilians were trapped in the city, many of them in hospitals. Across Gaza, more than 25,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed since the fighting began, according to Palestinian health officials.
The violence coincided with Qatar's anger over Netanyahu's leaked statements in which he accused Doha of failing to pressure Hamas to release the hostages. He also said the Gulf state is worse than the United Nations and the Red Cross, institutions that Israel routinely accuses of anti-Israel bias.
“You did not see me thanking Qatar, did you notice? I did not thank Qatar. Why? “Because Qatar, for me, is no different in its essence from the United Nations, and from the Red Cross, and it is more problematic,” Netanyahu said, according to the audio recording obtained by Israeli Channel 12. Somehow”.
Qatar expressed its “dismay” at the statements, which its spokesman, Majid Al-Ansari, described as “irresponsible and destructive,” but they are “not surprising.” Ansari said that if Netanyahu's comments “prove to be true, the Israeli prime minister will only obstruct and undermine the mediation process, for reasons that appear to serve his political career rather than prioritizing saving innocent lives.”
An Israeli official did not immediately respond to a question about the leaked audio recording.
A US official said that the dispute, although unwelcome, would not derail the negotiations
The intelligence chiefs and the Qatari prime minister also met shortly before the November deal was concluded, which included the release of more than 100 prisoners in exchange for more than 200 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons. This pause also allowed humanitarian aid to flow into northern Gaza, where residents are approaching near-starvation conditions. Both Burns and McGurk played a role in securing this deal.
Faraj said that after a flurry of diplomatic efforts this month, the two sides appear to be on the verge of reaching an agreement. But Hamas “asked for a guarantee, because sometimes it hands over hostages and then [Israel] They will attack them again.”
Faraj said that the United States is the only party capable of providing such a guarantee. He said that even if Netanyahu paid little attention to American entreaties regarding its management of the war and the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza in recent months, Egypt believes that the United States maintains decisive influence thanks to its military aid to Israel. He referred to a famous quote by the late Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, who participated in the talks brokered by President Jimmy Carter that led to the Camp David Accords in 1978 and the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt the following year.
“We believe that, as President Sadat said, 99% of the solutions everywhere in the world come from the United States,” Farag said.
He added: “The Americans are very strong, believe me. They can do whatever they want. The Israelis are now facing a lot of problems – economic, because all the people who work now are in the army. But who supports Israel? United State. Who gave them all the ammunition? …If the Americans say no, it will stop.”
But he said that Biden so far appears unwilling to put this kind of serious pressure on Netanyahu's government.
Michael Milstein, a senior fellow at Reichman University and former head of Palestinian affairs at Israeli military intelligence, said he believed an agreement could be reached in the coming weeks. He said: “In Israel, there are more and more voices that really want to promote such a deal, and I think Hamas also realizes that the next stages of the conflict could cause this organization serious damage.” “Both sides want to consider this idea.”
