Israeli delegation to depart for hostage talks on Thursday
An Israeli delegation is scheduled to set off on Thursday for ceasefire negotiations with Hamas, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office announced on Sunday night.
A rally calling for the release of hostages held captive by Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip at “Hostage Square” in Tel Aviv, July 20, 2024. Photo by Avshalom Sassoni/Flash90.
“Today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held an in-depth discussion on the hostage issue together with the negotiation team and senior security officials,” according to the PMO statement.
The announcement did not specify where the talks would be held; previous negotiation rounds have been held in Doha and Cairo.
In a separate statement on Sunday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant commended Netanyahu for the decision to resume the talks.
“As a result of our military achievements during this war, the conditions have been created, and a limited window of opportunity has opened to establish a framework for the release of the hostages,” said Gallant. “The defense establishment backs you in your mission to bring about a deal.”
Daniel Lifshitz, whose grandparents were both kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz on Oct. 7, has met with decision-makers around the world and heads the Arab desk at the Hostages and Missing Families Forum. The forum is a civilian, non-political and volunteer-based organization focused on returning the hostages being held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
Lifshitz was part of a delegation of hostage families that previously traveled to Qatar, and explained how complicated the process can be.
“In normal negotiations, both parties are seated together and the mediators attend but do not take such a prominent role. Here, the mediators are the ones bringing a proposal to the table and convincing the sides to get on board,” Lifshitz told JNS.
His grandmother Yocheved, 85, was released by Hamas on Oct. 23. He has since been campaigning to free his grandfather Oded, who turned 84 in captivity.
“I did not know anything about my grandparents’ situation until Hamas sent a Telegram message about wanting to release two U.S. citizens for humanitarian reasons—my grandmother and Nurit Cooper,” said Lifshitz.
“I did not know if they were alive. Their house was burnt. We had no videos. Nothing,” he continued. “When I saw the Telegram message, I realized she was alive and could come back, and suddenly after two days she was back,” he said.
“It was hard to see her. She lost 10 kilos in 17 days. They abused her. We were lucky that she came back when she did. A few days later, the IDF entered Gaza,” he added.
“We thought my grandfather was dead; he was shot and unconscious. For more than 30 days, we were sure that he was gone. In November, two former captives came back, one said she saw him … dressed in white and full of blood. Another hostage said she was with him for months in a place without medicine and in really bad condition and that he fainted,” said Lifshitz.
“For eight months, we do not know anything about him, the only thing we have is those two women who saw him,” he added.
Lifshitz is expected to meet with Gallant on Monday to discuss the negotiations.
On Thursday, Netanyahu reiterated during a visit to Hamas’s southern Gaza stronghold of Rafah that the Israel Defense Forces’ ongoing offensive is advancing the prospects of an agreement.
“The military pressure they are exerting right here, at Hamas’s throat, along with standing firm on our just demands, helps us advance the hostage deal,” Netanyahu told troops.
Also last week, Israeli diplomatic sources told reporters that despite the Gaza strike targeting Hamas terror chief Mohammed Deif, negotiations for a truce and the release of captives would continue. (While his deputy was killed in the attack, Deif’s fate remains unclear.)
According to Lebanon’s Al-Akhbar, which is close to Iran-backed Hezbollah, Israel informed Cairo that it would not halt IDF military operations until there was a deal and that “the targeting of Hamas leaders inside Gaza will continue even while negotiations continue.”
The New York Times said on July 15 that several points of contention remain, including Hamas’s demands that Israel permanently end the war and withdraw from strategic areas, including the border with Egypt.
Netanyahu has publicly stressed that “in every scenario,” Israel will continue to control southern Gaza’s Rafah Crossing and Philadelphi Corridor, the 8.7-mile-long border area between the Strip and Egypt.
The premier’s red lines include the ability to resume fighting in Gaza until all war goals have been met; an end to arms smuggling from Egypt; no return of “thousands” of Hamas terrorists to the enclave’s north; and maximizing the number of living hostages released.
Of the 120 hostages remaining in the Strip, 116 were abducted during the Oct. 7 Hamas-led massacre (the other four were captured earlier). The figure includes both living and deceased men, women and children.
Dozens of the remaining hostages are believed to be alive, a senior Israeli official involved in the negotiations told AFP last month.
“I think that we have a unique window of opportunity,” Dudi Zalmanovich, a founding member of the Hostage and Missing Families Forum, told JNS at the Forum’s Headquarters in Tel Aviv on Sunday.
Zalmanovich’s daughter survived Hamas’s massacre at the Supernova music festival, hiding under the bodies of her friends for nearly two hours. His wife’s nephew, Omer Shemtov, was kidnapped on Oct. 7 and remains in Gaza.
“I am not sure that anybody except for those directly involved can say with certainty that a deal is close to being finalized, but my experience in the military and reserve service make me believe it is,” said Zalmanovich.
Report for JNS by Akiva Van Koningsveld and Amelie Botbol
