Gaza ceasefire talks end in Qatar without any sign of breakthrough

The Doha talks and last week's regional tour by Blinken regarded as last US push for a Gaza deal before November election

Palestinians queue to register for medical examinations at a health centre run by UNRWA in Deir Al Balah in the central Gaza Strip on October 29, 2024. Reuters

Two days of Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha this week came to a close, with no word from US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators on whether the latest proposals to end the year-long war in the Palestinian enclave have brought a deal any closer.

Sources said mediators and negotiators have left the Qatari capital while mid-ranking officials continue discussions on the proposals.

The negotiations in Doha over Sunday and Monday were widely regarded as the last push by the US to reach a deal on a Gaza ceasefire and a hostages-for-prisoners swap before the presidential election on November 5.

“We don’t see anything moving until after all parties, particularly Israel, know who will next be in the White House,” said one source. “Besides, we don’t see what is being offered right now is acceptable to Israel or Hamas.”

In Washington, US officials said President Joe Biden’s administration backed an Egyptian proposal for a brief Gaza ceasefire – 48-72 hours according to the sources – that would result in Hamas releasing five hostages in return for an unspecified number of Palestinians detained in Israel.

According to US officials who spoke to the Associated Press in Washington, the plan also includes the opening of more routes for humanitarian aid into the enclave.

“We need a ceasefire. We should end this war. It should end. It should end. It should end,” Mr Biden said on Monday.

One of the officials told the AP that the administration would support virtually any suggestion that leads to a reduction in the suffering of Palestinian civilians and the release of hostages but said that “We’re not holding our breath.”

On Monday, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel did not receive a proposal that would include the release of hostages in return for a 48-hour ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

“If such a proposal were made, the prime minister would accept it on the spot,” it said in a statement.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said the killing earlier this month of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar helped to open a window towards a Gaza ceasefire deal, a notion that echoes comments by Mr Biden this month.

Mr Blinken visited Israel, Qatar and Saudi Arabia last week, his 11th Middle East tour since the Gaza war broke out in October last year.

The search for a deal in Qatar this week brought together CIA director William Burns, his Israeli counterpart Mossad chief David Barnea and Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Prime Minister of Qatar.

Hassan Mahmoud Rashad, Egypt’s newly appointed intelligence chief, did not take part in the talks, leaving Cairo’s representation at a lower level, sources said without elaborating.

Hamas has yet to formally respond to the plan, but the sources said talks between Egyptian and Hamas officials in Cairo last week left the hosts in no doubt that the militant group had no intention of budging on its core conditions for releasing the roughly 100 Israeli and other hostages it is holding in Gaza.

These conditions are a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, a permanent ceasefire and the unconditional return of the displaced to their homes across the enclave.

Israel’s declared war goal is to eradicate Hamas and put in place security arrangements that ensure that there will never be a repeat of the group’s October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel that killed 1,200 people and sparked the Israel-Gaza war that has killed at least 43,000 Palestinians.

Israel has rejected any governance or security role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza, something that is a deal-breaker for both the Ramallah-based authority and for Arab nations whose support is critical for the success of any plan to end the war.

In Doha on Tuesday, US ally Qatar said it intended to work with Mr Biden's administration “until the last minute” before the presidential election to reach a Gaza ceasefire deal.

“We don't foresee any negative result of the elections on the mediation process itself. We believe that we are dealing with institutions, and in a country like the United States, the institutions are invested in finding a resolution to this crisis,” Foreign Ministry representative Majed Al Ansari told a news conference.

The war in Gaza has displaced most of the territory's 2.3 million residents, often several times.