Israel negotiates in Qatar despite 'unacceptable' conditions

A team of Israeli negotiators will travel to Qatar this Sunday for indirect talks with the aim of securing a truce agreement and the release of hostages in Gaza, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced.

“The changes that Hamas is seeking to make to the Qatar proposal were communicated to us yesterday [Friday] evening and are unacceptable to Israel,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

However, “after an assessment of the situation,” the Israeli prime minister “instructed to respond to the invitation for indirect negotiations and continue efforts to recover” the “hostages based on the Qatari proposal that Israel accepted,” the text adds.

The note specifies that “the negotiating team will travel tomorrow [Sunday] for discussions in Qatar”.

This is the first time the Netanyahu administration has officially commented on the truce talks, after US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Israel had accepted a proposal for a 60-day ceasefire in Gaza and expressed hope that Hamas would also agree to the deal.

On Friday night, Hamas said it had given a “positive” response to the mediators regarding the truce proposal and was prepared to “immediately” negotiate its implementation, according to an official statement.

Israeli media, citing Hamas sources, said the Islamists had requested several changes to the text of the proposal, including the elimination of the humanitarian aid distribution mechanism managed by the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Fund (GHF) and the return of the United Nations to its role of distributing supplies.

Netanyahu plans to visit the White House on Monday and meet with Trump, when the ceasefire is expected to be announced.

According to sources from the Islamic group, cited by the Efe agency, the proposal would include guarantees that neither side would return to fighting while negotiations continue, which would begin during an initial 60-day truce with the aim of “a permanent ceasefire and a complete and gradual withdrawal from Gaza.”

Broadly speaking, the proposal includes a 60-day truce, during which Hamas would release half of the Israeli hostages still alive in the Strip (about 10), as well as the bodies of about 30 hostages, in exchange for the release of several Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Of the 251 people kidnapped on the first day of the war unleashed on October 7, 2023, by the Hamas attack on Israeli soil, 49 remain detained in Gaza, 27 of whom were declared dead by the Israeli army.

Since the war began, more than 57,300 Gaza residents have been killed and more than 132,000 injured in Israeli attacks, according to the Ministry