With Steve Witkoff, the White House special envoy to the Middle East, slated to travel to Doha on Tuesday to encourage negotiations between Israel and Hamas, the Jewish state confirmed that it will participate in the discussions.
“Israel has accepted the invitation of the mediators backed by the United States,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office stated, in a translation of the Hebrew, “and will send a delegation to Doha on Monday in an effort to advance the negotiations.”
Earlier in the day, Qatar called for “intensified international efforts to bring all Israeli nuclear facilities under the safeguards of the International Atomic Energy Agency and for Israel to join the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons as a non-nuclear state.”
The Qatari envoy to the United Nations and international organizations in Vienna said that “Israel continues its aggressive policies, including increasing extremist calls for the forced displacement of the Palestinian people, intensifying military operations against cities and refugee camps in the West Bank, blocking humanitarian aid to Gaza and maintaining restrictions on the operations of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency.”
The Biden administration and some others referred to Qatar as a partner in ceasefire negotiations. Qatar has allowed Hamas leaders to live freely in the country.
According to Axios, the upcoming negotiations will be the first since U.S. President Donald Trump took office on Jan. 20 and since the initial Israel-Hamas agreement that established a 42-day ceasefire in Gaza, which ended last week after securing the release of 33 hostages, both living and deceased.
The Trump administration is pushing for a deal that would secure the release of all remaining hostages, extend the ceasefire through Ramadan and Passover, and potentially lead to a long-term truce.
Several meetings have taken place between leaders of Hamas and U.S. Special Envoy for Hostage Affairs Adam Boehler, Taher al-Nono, a senior official with the terrorist group, confirmed to Reuters on Sunday.
Hamas is holding 59 hostages, with the Israel Defense Forces confirming 35 are dead. Israeli intelligence believes 22 are alive, while the status of two remains uncertain. Among the captives are five Americans, including 21-year-old Edan Alexander, who is believed to be alive.
The terrorist group has called for immediate talks on the second phase of its agreement with Israel. A delegation met in Cairo with Egyptian intelligence chief Hassan Mahmoud Rashad on Saturday to discuss enforcing the ceasefire and conducting hostage-for-terrorists exchanges. Hamas stressed the need to fulfill all terms of the deal, ensure unrestricted aid flows into Gaza, and establish an independent committee to govern Gaza until elections occur.
The Israeli statement on sending a delegation to Doha came after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a meeting with a group of senior ministers and the heads of the security services on Saturday to discuss the next steps in the Gaza ceasefire.
