WASHINTON DC: United States National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan highlighted that the negotiators have come to an “understanding” on the basic contours of a potential deal to release hostages held by the Hamas terror group in exchange for a temporary ceasefire in Gaza, as reported by CNN.
An Israeli delegation, including Mossad director David Barnea, is in talks with Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director Bill Burns and Egyptian and Qatar negotiators in Paris on Friday.
Reportedly, Qatar and Egypt are the intermediaries between Hamas and Israel, which do not talk directly to each other, CNN reported.
“The representatives of Israel, the United States, Egypt and Qatar met in Paris and came to an understanding among the four of them about what the basic contours of a hostage deal for a temporary ceasefire would look like. I’m not going to go into the specifics of that because it is still under negotiation in terms of hammering out the details of it,” CNN reported Sullivan as saying.
Moreover, Hamas was briefed on the Paris talks on Sunday evening. However, any possible final deal is still, at the earliest, days away as negotiators continue to find out the actual details.
“”There will have to be indirect discussions by Qatar and Egypt with Hamas because ultimately they will have to agree to release the hostages. That work is underway. And we hope that in the coming days, we can drive to a point where there is actually a firm and final agreement on this issue. But we will have to wait and see,” he added.
When he was asked about how hopeful he was about a potential deal, Sullivan declined to give details and said that he would not put percentage chances on it.
“There’s been a lot of to’ing and fro’ing. So I’m not going to make predictions and I’m not going to kind of put percentage chances on it,” he said.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed on Sunday that Israel wants to liberate the remaining hostages in Gaza, adding, “We are all working on it. We want it. I want it.”
He said Hamas’ “crazy” demands were holding up the deal, CNN reported.
Moreover, the negotiators will continue their discussions in Doha on Monday, according to a diplomat and sources. Those talks will be between working-level officials to focus on ironing out technical issues, they added.
Adding to the details, the discussions will include officials from the parties involved in the Paris talks, including, Qatar, Egypt, the US and Israel. From the US side, these will include officials from the CIA.
Notably, the Israeli PM has repeatedly emphasised that the war in Gaza will continue until Israel destroys Hamas’ leadership and rescues the hostages.