CIA chief Burns looks for Israel-Hamas ceasefire in new Qatar talks

 

Palestinians inspect the damage at a tent camp sheltering displaced people, following an Israeli strike in Khan Younis on Dec. 18, 2024.

CIA Director William Burns landed in Qatar on Wednesday for new talks aimed at finalizing a possibly imminent deal to end the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and free about 100 remaining hostages held by the militants.

Burns is meeting with Qatari officials as several Arab media sites reported that a ceasefire and hostage deal could be signed by the end of the week.

Danny Danon, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters, “As we speak, negotiations on a hostage deal are ongoing. We hope we can achieve a deal. You know, after many rejections by Hamas, we hope we\’re going to have some news before the holiday of Hanukkah and Christmas."

Still, Danon cautioned that Hamas has made last-minute demands in the past that had thwarted other possible agreements, while the militants have in turn blamed Israel for the months-long stalemate in reaching a halt to the warfare. New possible terms of a ceasefire and hostage release seemed in flux.

"We hope it will be in one stage” with the release of all hostages, Danon said, “because we want to see all the hostages back home.”

But he added, “Maybe it will not be in one stage. And basically, it will be similar to what we saw in the past more than a year ago — that you have a ceasefire, a long one, and at the same time of the ceasefire, during that ceasefire, hostages will be released. And we are talking mainly on the humanitarian aspect of women and the sick and the older hostages."

Arab media reported that the prospective deal could be drawn out, with the first stage of a ceasefire lasting 45 to 60 days and include the release of about 30 hostages, alive and dead, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.

In addition, the Arab media reports said that under terms of a possible deal, Israel would withdraw its troops from cities in Gaza while remaining in the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors. These corridors run parallel to the border with Egypt and cut across central Gaza, respectively.

In addition, Palestinian women and children would be allowed to return to northern Gaza, much of which has been decimated by the war.

Months of talks have proved fruitless in halting the fighting triggered by the shock October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel that killed about 1,200 people and led to the capture of 250 hostages.

Gaza health officials say Israel’s counteroffensive in the narrow territory along the Mediterranean Sea has killed 45,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, while Israel says the death toll includes thousands of Hamas combatants.

On the battlefield, medics said Wednesday that Israeli airstrikes killed at least 12 people in Gaza.

The strikes included one in the town of Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza that killed at least 10 people, the medics said. Other Israeli strikes hit central Gaza and the Rafah area in the southern part of the Palestinian enclave.

VOA’s United Nations correspondent Margaret Besheer contributed to this report. Some information came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.

By：VOA