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Qatar says Israel and Hamas are at their ‘closest point’ yet to Gaza ceasefire deal
As we have been reporting throughout the blog, both Israel and Hamas delegations are in the same building in the Qatari capital of Doha discussing the ceasefire deal, which is being hosted by Qatar’s prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari has been quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the ongoing negotiations are positive and productive. He said the two parties are at the “closest point” yet to agreeing on a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of dozens of hostages.
Key events
Blinken talks of need to ‘forge new reality’ in Middle East in last major foreign policy speech
Blinken speaks of the need to “forge a new reality” in the Middle East. He said he doesn’t want to turn “back the clock” to the way things were before 7 October 2023. He said he wants countries in the Middle East to be able to achieve their ational aspirations in a climate of peace and security. He says this will be difficult to achieve. A heckler interrupted his speech and said that Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza, a war that the US has fuelled through its huge amount of military assistance given to Israel. Blinken says the US has a goal of ending the war in Gaza and normalising relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Hezbollah is a ‘shadow of its former self’, Blinken says
Blinken says Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Lebanese militant group, is a “shadow of its former self” with its senior leadership killed and much of its infrastructure destroyed by the Israeli military. He also mentioned former Syrian president Bashar-al Assad being ousted by rebel forces last month and said that Hamas – the Palestinian militant group – has been “decimated”. He said “immeasurable” suffering has been inflicted on Palestinians, though there has been what he describes as “strategic gains” in the region. Nearly the entire population of Gaza has been displaced, many multiple times, is hungry and/or knows someone who has “lost a loved one” in (Israel’s) war, Blinken says. The more people suffer, the less they feel sympathy for the suffering of the other side, he added.
Blinken has been called a “monster” and a “war criminal” by a heckler. “You have no compassion,” she said.
US secretary of state delivers remarks expected to focus on Middle East
Antony Blinken is delivering his last (major) remarks in Washington as secretary of state before the Trump administration comes in next week. Blinken, who has been heavily involved in negotiations, is set to talk about the future of the Middle East and comment on the prospect of a temporary ceasefire in Gaza. You can watch our live feed at the top of the blog to follow along.
Militant group Islamic Jihad, which is separate from Hamas and also holds hostages in Gaza, said it was sending a senior delegation that would arrive in Doha on Tuesday night to take part in final arrangements for a ceasefire deal.
Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer has confirmed that the government will vote on any ceasefire deal put forward by negotiators, as was the case for the temporary truce agreed upon in November 2023. “Again, this is not concluded yet – it’s very important to remember that. We are moving closer but this is not concluded yet,” he was quoted by BBC News as saying, in reference to the talks in Doha. About 1,200 people were killed and 250 taken hostage in the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, triggering Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza. Eighty captives were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian women and children held in Israeli jails in a ceasefire in November that year, but the truce collapsed after a week.
Despite the ongoing truce talks in Qatar, at least 32 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since dawn, with at least 24 of these people killed in the central and southern parts of the territory, medical sources have told Al Jazeera Arabic.
At least 35 Palestinian people have been arrested by Israeli forces across the occupied West Bank since yesterday evening until this morning, Tte Detainees and Ex-Detainees Commission and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said in a joint statement.
According to Wafa, the Palestinian news agency, the detentions were carried out in Nablus, Salfit, Jenin, Tulkarm and Hebron.
These detentions were accompanied by assaults, threats against detainees and their families and the destruction of property, Wafa reported.
It is estimated that over 11,000 Palestinians have been detained in the occupied West Bank since 7 October 2023.
Human rights groups and international organisations have alleged widespread abuse of inmates detained by Israel in raids in the West Bank.
They have described alleged abusive and humiliating treatment, including holding blindfolded and handcuffed detainees in cramped cages as well as beatings, intimidation and harassment.
Qatar says Israel and Hamas are at their ‘closest point’ yet to Gaza ceasefire deal
As we have been reporting throughout the blog, both Israel and Hamas delegations are in the same building in the Qatari capital of Doha discussing the ceasefire deal, which is being hosted by Qatar’s prime minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari has been quoted by the Associated Press as saying that the ongoing negotiations are positive and productive. He said the two parties are at the “closest point” yet to agreeing on a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of dozens of hostages.
Images taken from Sderot today show Israel continuing to launch strikes on what remains of buildings in Gaza.
Writing for Haaretz, in an op-ed Amos Harel argues that in appearing to come to an agreement with Hamas, Benjamin Netanyahu has “folded under [Donald] Trump’s pressure.”
Harel writes that “the incoming president has much more leverage over Netanyahu and the Egyptian and Qatari mediators than does the outgoing president, Joe Biden.”
He stated that at his meeting with Netanyahu, Trump’s special Middle East envoy, Steven Witkoff, told the prime minister that the president-elect expected a deal to be done. Harel continues:
Things that Netanyahu had termed life-and-death issues suddenly vanished.
Netanyahu agreed last May, under pressure from Biden, to a proposal that included the gradual but full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip, an end to the war and the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners. Afterward, he backtracked, using Philadelphi as an excuse. In the ensuing months, he raised more obstacles. (In his defense, Hamas also caused problems.)
Over those months, at least eight hostages died, two killed by Israeli bombs and six murdered by Hamas. Another 122 Israeli soldiers were killed, a third of them in the assault on Jabalya and Beit Hanoun that began last October.
There is certainly value in continuing to pummel Hamas, but it has not been defeated and complete victory is not waiting around the corner. Netanyahu’s claim that only military pressure will lead to the release of hostages – a claim that has sometimes been backed by the IDF brass – has proven to be baseless. And now, the prime minister is folding.
Germany’s chancellor Olaf Scholz has commented on the prospect of a ceasefire and hostage release deal. Reuters quotes him saying:
We understand how painful any agreement with the terrorist organisation Hamas is for Israel. Nevertheless, the lives of the hostages must now have top priority.
Israeli Army Radio reports a molotov cocktail attack on vehicles on Israel’s highway 5. It says three were thrown, but no casualties are reported.
Reports: outline of first phase of ceasefire and hostage release agreement
Reuters is now also carrying what it says is an outline of the proposed deal between Israel and Hamas, according to information it has received from an Israeli official and a Palestinian official.
It reports the first phase entails:
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33 hostages would be set free. These include children, women including female soldiers, men above 50, wounded and sick. Israel believes most are alive but has had no official confirmation
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On the 16th day from the deal taking effect, negotiations would start on a second stage, with the aim of securing the return of the remaining living hostages – male soldiers and younger civilian males – and the return of the bodies of dead hostages
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In return for the hostages, Israel will free from its jails a significant number of Palestinian prisoners, although exactly how many will depend on how many hostages are still alive. The two officials have given Reuters slightly differing indications of how many – the Israeli official said the number would be “many hundreds”, while the Palestinian official said it would be more than 1,000
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Where the prisoners would be sent has not yet been agreed but anyone convicted of murder or deadly attacks would not be released to the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and anyone who took part in the 7 October 2023 attack on Israel would not be released
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Israel will not fully withdraw its troops from Gaza until all the hostages have been returned but there will be a phased pull back, with Israeli forces remaining in the border perimeter to defend Israeli border towns and villages
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There would be security arrangements at the Philadelphi corridor bordering Egypt, along the southern edge of Gaza, with Israel withdrawing from parts of it after the first few days of the deal
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Unarmed North Gaza residents would be allowed back, with a mechanism to ensure no weapons are moved there, and the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza will start to work gradually. There would be a significant increase of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports more people, including children, being killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza.
It reports “five citizens, including two children, were killed when the occupation’s warplanes bombed a civilian vehicle in the Al-Zawaida area in the central Gaza Strip.”
In addition it says a Palestinian fisher was killed “by Israeli gunboat fire.”
Earlier on Tuesday, the Hamas-led health ministry in Gaza issued updated casualty figures for the war, claiming that Israel’s military offensive has killed at least 46,645 Palestinians and wounded 110,012 more since 7 October 2023. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
An Israeli official has responded to earlier comments by Itamar Ben-Gvir, who appeared to have claimed that he had been instrumental in Israel opposing hostage release deals and ceasefire negotiations over the past year.
In a statement, the far-right national security minister said “We succeeded in the past year through our political power in preventing this deal from going through. Since then, however, additional parties have joined the government which are supporting the deal, and we are no longer the decisive factor.”
Haaretz quotes an Israeli official denying this. They said “the only one who managed to hinder a deal to release hostages since November 2023 is the terrorist group Hamas, which has continued its line of refusal, as US officials have said time after time. What changed Hamas’ position this time are Israel’s powerful achievements in this war.”
Ben-Gvir has said he will oppose any deal, and called on finance minister Bezalel Smotrich to also come out against the deal.
Ben-Gvir said “This isn’t a difficult decision that needs to be made in order to return hostages. It’s a decision that [will] knowingly cost the lives of many other Israeli civilians, who unfortunately will pay for this deal with their lives. We’ve already seen the fruits of these [kinds of] deals.”
An Israeli official, speaking to CNN on condition of anonymity, has said the conclusion of a ceasefire and hostage release deal is “in the hands of Hamas.”
The official told the US news network “We think that we’ve made all the compromises that are needed to bring a deal. It’s in the hands of Hamas and they need to make this decision.”
In additional comments, the official said “Until Hamas will tell us how many of our hostages are alive, I don’t know how many prisoners – terrorists – will be released” but suggested the number would be in the hundreds.
About 100 hostages are still believed to be held captive in Gaza since 7 October 2023, and not all of them are believed to be alive.
CNN reported that the Israeli official would not commit to a deal permanently ending the war, only saying that Israel is keen to “bring all our hostages back home”.
In the UK, Labour ministers have effectively determined there is no human rights concern that could justify halting the sale of F-35 fighter jet parts that could be used by Israel in Gaza, according to a legal submission from two campaign groups.
Dan Sabbagh and Patrick Wintour report …
