Exclusive: Qatar seeks an Israel-Hamas deal to free 50 hostages and a 3-day truce.

Qatar wants a three-day truce and the release of fifty captives from Israel and Hamas. According to a source with knowledge of the talks, Israel and Hamas tried to reach a deal on Wednesday that called for the release of some fifty civilian prisoners from Gaza in exchange for a three-day ceasefire. According to Reuters, Qatari intermediaries mediated the deal.

The source stated that Israel will increase the amount of humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza and release some Palestinian women and children from Israeli jails as part of the deal, which is being discussed and negotiated with the United States.

This would be Hamas’s most high-profile prisoner release since the militant Palestinian group attacked parts of Israel, crossed the Gaza border, and took hostages within the enclave.

The individual said that even though Israel has since fired missiles and sent troops into Gaza, it has not committed to the details of this deal and is still in talks with Hamas over them. It is uncertain how many Palestinian women and children Israel will release from its jails as part of the agreement under discussion.

The focus of the Qatari-led talks has shifted significantly in recent weeks. Still, it has not previously been reported that Hamas has accepted the premise of the arrangement or that the talks are now focused on the release of fifty civilian prisoners in exchange for a three-day ceasefire.

The wealthy Gulf state of Qatar has direct contact with both Hamas and Israel due to its ambitious foreign policy. It has helped mediate ceasefires between the two in the past. Hamas would need to submit an exhaustive list of all the civilian prisoners who are being detained in Gaza and are still alive to reach such a compromise.

According to the official, talks over a more comprehensive release of all prisoners have not started. Israeli officials took a while to react. They had refrained from providing detailed analysis of the hostage talks in the past, citing a wish to protect diplomatic efforts and not incite what they saw to be “psychological warfare” by Palestinian militants.

When Reuters questioned the discussions on Wednesday, Ezzat El Rashq, a spokesperson for the Hamas political bureau, declined to confirm the deal under discussion directly. Israel “is still refusing and delaying the release of 50 women and children captives and a true humanitarian truce, in exchange for the release of several women and children from our people in the occupation prisons and getting relief and humanitarian aid to all areas in the Gaza Strip”, he said.

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs declined to comment. Hamas, which maintains its political headquarters in Qatar, has released almost 240 of its hostages via the efforts of Israeli authorities and the Islamic terrorist group. On October 7, terrorists ambushed them during their incursion into Israel. Israel claims that 1,200 people died in the eruption.

Following that, Israel began nonstop bombing Gaza, which is under Hamas control. According to Palestinian sources, Israel launched an armored invasion of the enclave late last month, killing approximately 11,000 people, 40% of whom were children and maybe more who are buried under the wreckage.

Israeli Minister Benny Gantz, one of the war cabinet members, said at a news conference on Wednesday that “there will be no stopping the combat and the war until we achieve our goals, even if we are required to pause fighting in order to return our hostages.”

Gantz was silent when pressed for more details about what was preventing the hostage negotiations.

The major goals of the previous discussions, according to sources in the Gulf and other areas of the Middle East, were a three-day ceasefire in Gaza and the release of up to fifteen detainees held by Hamas.

The Hamas political office in Doha and Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not immediately respond to requests for information.

Two security sources in Egypt claim that agreements have only been struck for limited ceasefires in specific areas of Gaza. Though Israel had earlier looked reluctant to sign a more complete deal, things appeared to be moving closer by Tuesday.

Objectives

On Monday, the armed wing of Hamas, known as the Qassam Brigades, said to the negotiators in Qatar that it would release up to seventy women and children in return for a five-day truce.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, “We have been working relentlessly for the release of the hostages, including using increased pressure since the start of the ground incursion.” There are several obstacles in any profession. A Western official in the region said that Hamas’s capacity to correctly compile a list of its hostages is currently in doubt because of organizational and communication problems resulting from the Gaza battle.

Gathering the prisoners for any simultaneous release—which is what Israel wants—would be logistically difficult, according to a second person in the area who was aware of the talks. The same source added that there had been concerns regarding whether or not Hamas’s military and political leadership were in accord and that these concerns had finally been dispelled. They also mentioned that Israeli military pressure made a deal more challenging.