Qatar seeks deal for all Israeli captives, as 12 more leave Gaza

Doha seeks to mediate a deal that would allow for the release of all the hostages, as Israel waited to see 12 more hostages — seven women and five children - return home Wednesday night, as part of a process that has so far seen 63 Israelis freed.

Qatar and Egypt, which are mediating indirect talks between Hamas and Israel in Doha with the help of the US are reportedly working on two deals simultaneously with the larger one possibly including an end to the Gaza war that began on October 7 but has been on hold since Friday.

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari appeared to publicly confirm these efforts during a conversation with CNN.

“Our negotiations regarding women and children take paramount position within the discussions, but obviously we are moving towards civilian men being released.,” Ansari said as he referenced the larger deal.

The first arrangement could see the release of 20 to 30 Israelis over the next two to three days through an extension of an existing deal, leaving slightly less than 150 in captivity by Sunday. The issue is highly pressurized because the existing deal is set to expire Thursday morning with the resumption of the war.

The second larger deal under discussion would allow for those 150 Israeli captives, out of the 240 hostages Hamas seized during its infiltration of southern Israel on October 7, to be freed.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters the US wanted to see the lull in the Gaza extended, as he spoke in Brussels prior to his arrival in Tel Aviv on Thursday where he will meet with Israel’s war cabinet.

“I expect to take that up tomorrow when I’m in Israel meeting with the government.  And again, we have other colleagues in the government who are intensely working on that,” Blinken said.

“We’d like to see the pause extended because what it has enabled first and foremost is hostages being released, coming home, being reunited with their families. 

“So it’s continuation, by definition, means that more hostages would be coming home,” he said.

“Clearly that’s something we want, and I believe it’s also something that Israel wants.  They’re also intensely focused on bringing their people home.  So we’re working on that.  As you know, we’re working on that every single day,” Blinken stressed.

Initial release based on three formulas

The initial deal which went into effect on Friday has sought to secure the release of all 98 women and children in Gaza.

The initial release was based on three formulas. Ten Israeli hostages are worth 24 hours of a lull in the Gaza War, which has been paused since Friday morning to allow for captive releases. For every day the Gaza war is on hold, at least 200 trucks of humanitarian aid can enter the Strip.

For every Israeli woman or child captive freed, Israel would release three jailed Palestinian women and minors held on security-related offenses. To date, some 180 such prisoners have been freed and another 30 are set to be released tonight.

Mossad chief David Barnea, CIA chief William Burns, and Egyptian intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Abbas Kamel were in Qatar to discuss the matter on Tuesday.

Barnea and Burns have sought to extend the initial deal and simultaneously put in place a new one to deal with male hostages, five female soldiers, and those who have perished.

An article about the potential deal published in the Washington Post on Wednesday said the new deal would separate the remaining hostages into five categories. This would be men who are too old for reserve duty, male reservists, men serving in the army, the five fable soldiers, and those who have perished.

It’s expected that the government could support a deal for the release of all the hostages, including if it includes the release of Palestinian men jailed for serious terror offenses.

The breaking point is expected to be any inclusion in the deal of an end to the Gaza war. Israel has been clear about its intention to resume its military campaign to oust Hamas from Gaza once the hostages are freed. Hamas, in turn, wants to free hostages in exchange for an end to the war.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted on Wednesday that Israel intended to resume the war once the hostages were freed.

“In the last few days I have heard it questions whether after this phase freeing captives is exhausted, will Israel return to fighting? So my answer is an unequivocal yes,” Netanyahu emphasized.

“There is no way we are not going back to fighting [Hamas in Gaza] until the end. This is my policy, the entire cabinet stands behind it, the entire government stands behind it, the soldiers stand behind it, the people stand behind it - this is exactly what we will do."

Israel has considered Hamas to be an existential threat that must be eliminated since the October 7 attack in which the terror group killed over 1,200 people, burning, dismembering and raping many of them.

Many in the international community, however, have focused on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, caused by the war including the high death toll. Hamas has asserted that some 14,800 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in war related violence.  

The temporary ceasefire has allowed about 800 aid trucks to enter Gaza, and the first of three US planes with humanitarian supplies for Gaza landed in Egypt on Tuesday.

UN aid chief Martin Griffiths was to travel to the Jordanian capital Amman on Wednesday to discuss opening the Kerem Shalom crossing to allow for humanitarian aid to enter Gaza from Israel.

Located at the intersection of Israel, the Gaza Strip and Egypt, the Kerem Shalom crossing transported more than 60% of the aid going into Gaza before the current conflict.

Aid for Gaza now comes through the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian border, which was designed for pedestrian crossings and not trucks.