Despite sharp disagreements, Israeli officials landed in Doha for renewed discussions, hoping to salvage progress on a ceasefire and hostage deal.
Israeli negotiators quietly touched down in Qatar on Sunday, kicking off another round of indirect talks with Hamas over a long-stalled ceasefire agreement and a potential hostage release deal. The mission, led by officials from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office and the Mossad, went ahead despite growing skepticism in Jerusalem over what one Israeli source called Hamas’s “impossible demands.”
And yet, they went.
That alone says something about the stakes.
A fragile opening in an otherwise hardened deadlock
Tel Aviv’s decision to greenlight the delegation came just two days after Hamas reportedly gave a “positive” response to the latest U.S.-backed framework for a truce. But positive didn’t mean pliable.
According to Israeli officials, Hamas insisted that any short-term pause must eventually become a full end to the war, with a total withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. For Netanyahu’s government, that’s still a red line.
On Sunday, his office issued a carefully worded statement calling Hamas’s revisions to the proposal “unacceptable,” but didn’t elaborate. Instead, Israeli sources say the trip to Doha is about probing just how serious Hamas is about negotiation—or whether it’s just more posturing.
A senior Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, “We are testing the water. We don’t expect miracles, but we have to keep the channel open.”
What’s actually on the table right now?
The latest U.S.-brokered draft, shaped by weeks of shuttle diplomacy involving CIA Director William Burns and Egyptian and Qatari mediators, outlines a multi-phase process:
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Phase 1: Six-week ceasefire, release of dozens of Israeli hostages including women, elderly, and the wounded.
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Phase 2: Gradual Israeli withdrawal from parts of Gaza, and release of Palestinian prisoners.
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Phase 3: Full cessation of hostilities and reconstruction phase, contingent on security assurances.
But Hamas wants more ironclad guarantees baked into the earlier phases. “They’re asking for the cake and the knife,” said a Western diplomat involved in the talks.
A table summarizing the current proposal and Hamas’s objections helps clarify the standoff:
| Issue | U.S. Proposal | Hamas Position |
|---|---|---|
| Initial ceasefire length | 6 weeks | Agreed |
| Hostage-for-prisoner ratio | 1:30 (approximate) | Wants 1:50 in early phase |
| Israeli troop withdrawal | Gradual, post-hostage release | Immediate withdrawal from all of Gaza |
| Full war termination clause | After multiple phases, not guaranteed | Wants written guarantee of war’s end upfront |
Netanyahu caught between Biden, war cabinet, and far-right pressure
Back in Jerusalem, Netanyahu is under enormous pressure. On one side, U.S. President Joe Biden continues to push publicly for a deal, even tying Washington’s broader diplomatic posture to it. On the other, Israel’s far-right ministers like Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich are threatening to walk if Netanyahu makes “too many concessions.”
Caught in between is a war cabinet that isn’t totally unified. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and opposition figure Benny Gantz (before his resignation last month) had previously signaled they were open to serious truce negotiations—provided Israel maintains operational freedom in Gaza afterward.
“This deal is basically being stretched in every direction at once,” one senior Knesset member told an Israeli broadcaster on Sunday. “There’s no version of it that everyone likes.”
Hamas’ tone shifts publicly, but trust is nonexistent
In Gaza, Hamas’s leadership is playing a public balancing act of its own. While their spokespersons have called the latest U.S. proposal a “constructive step,” internally, they are pressing for cast-iron guarantees.
Ismail Haniyeh, the group’s political chief in Doha, has insisted that no deal is viable without assurances that Israeli soldiers will leave Gaza entirely and permanently. Hamas’s recent statement hinted that any ambiguity could lead them to reject the deal outright.
A Western mediator described the mood in Hamas’s camp as “tense but not hopeless.”
“They’ve lost a lot on the ground, and they know it. But they also believe Israel is overextended,” the official said.
Hezbollah ups the ante in the north
As if that wasn’t enough, tensions with Hezbollah are once again boiling over. On Saturday, the group’s deputy secretary-general Naim Qassem said there would be “no silence and no compromise” unless Israel pulls back from southern Lebanon and stops airstrikes near the border.
Those airstrikes have continued nearly every night for weeks, with the IDF saying they’re targeting Hezbollah’s military infrastructure. But they’ve also displaced over 90,000 Israeli civilians from the northern border region since October.
The Israeli military has begun reinforcing its positions near Metula and Kiryat Shmona. Residents in the area have started seeing more tanks and fewer buses.
There’s a growing fear among diplomats that even a partial truce in Gaza could trigger an escalation in Lebanon unless the Hezbollah front is addressed.
Why everyone is still talking, even when they say they’re not
So, why keep talking if everything seems stuck? The answer’s simple: it’s better than not talking at all.
Mossad Director David Barnea, who has become the face of Israel’s behind-the-scenes negotiations, reportedly told U.S. officials last week, “As long as the line to Doha stays open, we still have options.”
And from Washington’s side, senior officials believe a “controlled pause” could be a stepping stone—not to peace, necessarily, but at least to relief.
A brief truce would let aid flow, get civilians to safety, and maybe bring some hostages home. That might not be peace, but in this war, it would be something.
