Gaza: Background of the Israeli deal

Senior American officials talk about a painful process Who participated in the efforts that led to Israel and Hamas agreeing to a four-day truce and the release of Hamas hostages and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.

As reported by APE-MPE, the Israeli government has approved the agreement that provides The release of 50 hostages in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners and a four-day ceasefire In the Gaza Strip.

One official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told reporters last night that it took five weeks of “very difficult” negotiations to get here.

Very soon after The bloody attack on October 7 Launched by Hamas in Israel, Qatar offered to mediate the release of about 240 hostages held by the Palestinian movement in the Gaza Strip.

The people behind this great effort

A small group, a “nucleus”, was then created to “work very carefully and discreetly” with the aim of freeing the hostages. The administration of US President Joe Biden was represented by two senior officials in the White House, Mr. Brett McGurk and Josh Geltzer.

“Daily, often hourly, communications” were heard for weeks The Americans, the Israelis, the Egyptians and Qatar.

Egypt, which has the only crossing into the Gaza Strip that is not controlled by Israel, is an undisputed historical mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The head of Hamas lives in Qatar, but the country also maintains good relations with Washington.

One US official explained that the first major step was taken on October 20, with the release of two American women by Hamas, which was a “test.” The White House has tracked their path to freedom “in real time.”

CIA and Mossad

The release of the two American women proved that it was possible to free all the hostages and gave Washington confidence in this Qatar can achieve this goal through the small group that was formed, The official noted

A more intense operation immediately began, and CIA Chief William Burns began speaking regularly with Mossad Director David Parnia.

The American President believed that agreeing to release the hostages was the only realistic way to declare a cessation of hostilities.

On October 24, as Israel was about to launch ground operations in Gaza, the American side was informed that Hamas had agreed to the parameters of the deal to release women and children, which meant a cessation of hostilities and a postponement of the ground operation. .

American officials were discussing with the Israelis whether the ground operation should be postponed or not.

The Israelis estimate that these standards was not clear enough to justify the delay, There is no evidence that the hostages are alive. Hamas claimed that it could not know who was being held until a ceasefire was reached.

The United States and Israel considered the Palestinian movement’s position insincere. The US official explained that Israel’s plan for the ground operation had been modified to allow for a temporary pause if an agreement was reached.

Over the next three weeks, Biden held ongoing talks in which various proposals to free the hostages were put forward. Hamas was asked to provide a list of the names of the hostages it is holding and to provide guarantees that it will release them if an agreement is reached.

The official noted that the process was long and arduous, communications were difficult, and messages had to pass through Doha or Cairo to reach Gaza.

Biden held a conversation with the Qatari Prime Minister – which has not yet been announced – as the first deal began to take shape.

On this basis, in the first stage, the women and children hostages will be released, while the Israelis, in return, will release the Palestinian prisoners.

The Israelis insisted that Hamas must release all women and children in the first stage. The United States agreed and demanded, through Qatar, proof that the women and children held hostage by Hamas were alive or information about their identities.

Palestinian movement He rejected the request and replied that he could guarantee the release of 50 hostages in the first stage.

On November 9, Burns met in Doha with the Qatari leader and Mossad’s Barnea to discuss the text of the emerging agreement.

The main obstacle at that stage was that Hamas did not specify who it was holding.

Three days later, Biden was on the phone with the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and demanded the names and identity information of the 50 hostages, including their ages, genders and nationalities. The American official stressed that without this information, there is no basis for moving forward with the agreement.

Shortly thereafter, Hamas presented details of the 50 hostages.

On November 14, the US President held a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and urged him to accept the agreement, and Netanyahu agreed.

McGurk met with the Israeli Prime Minister on the same day in Israel. After leaving the meeting, Netanyahu grabbed McGurk’s arm and told him, “We need this deal,” while urging Biden to speak with the Emir of Qatar about the final terms of the deal.

The talks were delayed due to a communications outage in Gaza. When they were reinstated, Biden was in San Francisco to attend a meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). He made a phone call to the Emir of Qatar and told him that this was the last chance. The officials said that the prince pledged to push for the deal to be completed.

“The president insisted that the deal must be completed now. “Time is up,” one US official said.

On November 18, Mr McGurk met in Doha with the Prime Minister of Qatar. Burns, who had previously held conversations with Mossad, also participated in the conversation by phone. During these talks, the last loopholes in the agreement were also closed.

Now the agreement includes the release of women and children hostages, in the first stage, but with the possibility of releasing more by Hamas with the aim of returning all hostages to their families.

The next morning in Cairo McGurk met with the head of Egyptian intelligence, Abbas Kamel. It became known that Hamas leaders in Gaza accepted almost all of the terms of the agreement. The question of the number of hostages to be released in the first phase and the final structure of the agreement on further releases remained open.

Numerous communications ensued, and finally the agreement was approved by all parties.