Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced an Israeli delegation will attend ceasefire-for-hostage negotiations with Hamas on August 15, after the United States, Egypt and Qatar on Thursday issued a joint call for talks to resume next week with the aim to swiftly conclude a deal.
“It is time to bring immediate relief both to the long-suffering people of Gaza as well as the long-suffering hostages and their families. The time has come to conclude the ceasefire and hostages and detainees release deal,” said the statement signed by US President Joe Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.
The statement said that after working “tirelessly” for months, the mediators are ready to present Israel and Hamas with a final proposal, with only the details for implementing the agreement yet to be worked out.
“There is no further time to waste nor excuses from any party for further delay. It is time to release the hostages, begin the ceasefire, and implement this agreement,” said the leaders.
“As mediators, if necessary, we are prepared to present a final bridging proposal that resolves the remaining implementation issues in a manner that meets the expectations of all parties.”
They called on Israel and Hamas to restart talks next Thursday in either Cairo or Doha to seal the final details and begin implementing the deal “without further delay.”
US President Joe Biden, right, shakes hands with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in the Oval Office of the White House, January 31, 2022, in Washington. (AP/Alex Brandon)
The Prime Minister’s Office confirmed early Friday that Israeli negotiators will travel to the August 15 talks, saying in a brief statement that the delegation will travel to wherever is decided upon “to finalize the details for implementing the framework agreement.”
There was no immediate response from Hamas.
The joint statement from the US, Egypt and Qatar was welcomed by the Hostages and Missing Families Forum, which thanked the countries’ leaders “for their commitment to the release of the 115 hostages who have already been in Hamas captivity for 308 days,” before appealing to the government and Netanyahu to “demonstrate leadership” and finalize a deal “for the return of all the hostages.”
It is believed that 111 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas during the October 7 terror onslaught remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 39 confirmed dead by the IDF. Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Seven hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 24 hostages have also been recovered, including three abductees mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
‘Still a significant amount of work’
Speaking later Thursday during a phone briefing, a senior Biden administration official clarified that while the joint statement issued by the US, Egypt and Qatar refers to the aim of next Thursday’s negotiations as closing the remaining gaps, “It’s not like the agreement is going to be ready to be signed on Thursday.”
“There’s still a significant amount of work to do, but we do believe that what’s left can be bridged,” the senior administration official told reporters, adding that Thursday will only see a “resumption” of the talks, not their finalization.
Pressed several times on whether the US thinks Netanyahu is serious about reaching a deal, the administration official tried to strike a more balanced approach.
“It’s incumbent upon not just the Israeli side, but also the Hamas side [to reach a deal]. At the end of the day, this is a hostage negotiation, and they’re holding hostages,” the senior official said. “With some force of will and sitting down to hash it out, we think [a deal] is possible.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attends a memorial ceremony for Ze’ev Jabotinsky at Mount Herzl in Jerusalem, on August 4, 2024. (Naama Grynbaum/Pool/Flash90)
The idea for a joint statement came out of the calls Biden held on Tuesday with the leaders of Qatar and Egypt, according to the senior administration official, who noted that Netanyahu’s office welcomed the initiative and said an Israeli official would be at the talks.
The administration official said preparatory talks for next week’s meeting will likely begin soon in Washington, as the US simultaneously readies for a potential attack on Israel by Iran.
The official said the joint statement was the result of Biden’s counterparts in Cairo and Doha pushing for the move, and was not specifically aimed at sending a signal to Iran regarding its potential attack on Israel.
However, the senior US official acknowledged that if Iran “launches a major war in the Middle East with some massive attack on Israel, which they’re threatening in coordination with other groups, that’s obviously going to significantly jeopardize any hope of getting a ceasefire in Gaza, because we’ll very much be focused on other things.”
The official also said Iran has no right to attack Israel militarily following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last week, which was widely attributed to Israel.
“There’s absolutely no legitimate basis whatsoever for Iran to launch a military attack against Israel, which it continues to threaten,” the senior official said.
“There’s been a sense out there that somehow, Iran now has the right to attack Israel militarily, and we completely reject that logic,” the official added.
A cleric stands next to a poster depicting slain Hamas terror group leader Ismail Haniyeh at Tehran’s Palestine square on August 8, 2024 (AFP)
The senior Biden administration official said the US was prepared for any contingency. “We have moved an awful lot of military force into the region, including F-22s that arrived today… We’re doing all we can to deter such an attack, to defeat an attack if it comes, and also to demonstrate to Iran that there’s a better path forward here than a military attack.”
Earlier Thursday, Biden met in the Oval Office with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to review US military deployments to help defend Israel from an attack against Iran, the official added.
“The consequences of such a direct attack could be quite significant, including for Iran and Iran’s economy, which I know their new government is concerned about,” the senior official said.
Agencies contributed to this report.
