US to hold hostage talks Sunday amid push to end Israel-Hamas War

CIA Director William Burns is set to hold a renewed round of hostage talks in Doha on Sunday amid an intense push by the Biden administration to secure a deal to free the remaining 101 captives and end the Israel-Hamas War.

Mossad Chief David Barnea is expected to lead the Israeli delegation and is likely to promote a new plan he has been working on with the Qataris and the Egyptians to bring the hostages home.

The US and Israel have been hopeful that in the aftermath of the IDF’s assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar earlier this month, it is now possible to make a deal.

Qatar and Egypt, the two main mediators for a deal, have both spoken with Hamas since Sinwar’s killing, but it’s unclear if Hamas would be open to releasing the hostages.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken held a series of diplomatic meetings prior to Sunday’s summit, visiting Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Qatar last week. Time is tight for the Biden administration given that US President Joe Biden’s four-year term in office ends on January 20.

Sunday’s talks mark the first high-level meeting since Hamas executed six of the hostages at the end of August, including Israeli-American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23.

MOURNERS MARCH during the funeral of Israeli hostage Hersh Goldberg-Polin in Jerusalem on Tuesday. (credit: Gil-Cohen-Magen/Reuters)

Until his killing the US had advanced a three-phase deal first unveiled at the end of May. It has yet to finalize all the details of even the first phase.

At issue has been Hamas’s insistence that Israel must end the war and the IDF must fully withdraw from all of Gaza including the Philadelphi Corridor. The May deal had been designed to allow for a deal to partially get underway without dealing with some of the irreconcilable differences.

There are now growing calls for the US to scrap the May deal, which always had a protracted timetable for a hostage release, and to consider a new framework. Blinken himself hinted at this possibility last week.

Barnea has spoken of leveraging pressure from Iran and Hezbollah on Hamas to make a deal, by linking a ceasefires in Gaza with one in Lebanon. The US has clarified that the two ceasefire efforts are not linked.

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At Sunday’s meeting Barnea is expected to promote a new deal he has worked on with the United States, Qatar Egypt, and the Egyptians.

US seeks minor agreements

There have also been reports of mini-deal, that see the release of a small number of hostages in exchange for a short pause in the war.

In the aftermath of the IDF’s killing of Sinwar, Israel is under increased pressure to sign off on a deal that would both end the war and see the hostages released….