No significant progress has been made in the ongoing hostage negotiations in Doha since Wednesday, an Arab diplomat and a second source familiar with the negotiations told The Times of Israel on Friday, as Palestinian officials said the talks were on the verge of collapse.
While Israel agreed to ease some of its demands regarding the redeployment of its troops during the 60-day truce under discussion following US pressure, the new series of maps depicting the partial withdrawal of IDF troops was not sufficient to satisfy Hamas, the two sources said.
The new maps still envision Israel maintaining control of roughly one-third of Gaza’s territory, including a three-kilometer (1.86-mile) buffer zone in Rafah to create a highly controversial “humanitarian city� to which Gaza’s entire population will be herded, checked for weapons and be barred from leaving as Israel will seek to encourage their emigration outside of the Strip.
Channel 12 reported that Hamas agreed to expand the buffer zone Israel wants to create along much of the Gaza perimeter from 700 meters to one kilometer. However, Israel is still demanding that it be expanded to as much as two kilometers.
Amid the apparent stalemate on the issue, the US is urging Hamas to move on to discuss other remaining issues — something the terror group has refused to do until disagreements regarding Israel’s partial withdrawal from Gaza are solved.
“The negotiations in Doha are facing a setback and complex difficulties due to Israel’s insistence, as of Friday, on presenting a map of withdrawal, which is actually a map of redeployment and repositioning of the Israeli army rather than a genuine withdrawal,� a Palestinian official told AFP on Saturday.
“Hamas’s delegation will not accept the Israeli maps… as they essentially legitimize the reoccupation of approximately half of the Gaza Strip and turn Gaza into isolated zones with no crossings or freedom of movement,” the source said.
Palestinian officials told the BBC and AFP that negotiations in Doha between Israel and Hamas are on the verge of collapse and are being held up by Israel’s proposals to keep troops in the Strip.
One Palestinian official told the BBC that Israel “bought time� with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington to meet US President Donald Trump, and that the decision to send a team to Qatar without a strong mandate was an act to deliberately stall the discussions.
Israel’s delegation to Doha does not include the senior-most officials who have been involved in talks — Mossad chief David Barnea, acting Shin Bet head “Shin,� and Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, Army Radio reported earlier this week.
A Palestinian official told AFP that Israel was “stalling and obstructing the agreement to continue the war of extermination.�
Another said mediators had asked both sides to postpone the talks until the arrival of Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Doha. It is unclear if or when that will happen.
The second Palestinian source told AFP that “some progress” had been made in the latest talks on plans for releasing Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and getting more aid to Gaza.
Meanwhile, the controversial Israel- and US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation issued a statement Friday asking Israel to abide by its commitment to allow the opening of additional distribution sites.
“GHF also continues to press the Government of Israel to live up to its commitment to allow us to open additional sites, including in the north of Gaza,� GHF said.
The statement also welcomed reports of an agreement between Israel and the European Union to scale up humanitarian aid in Gaza, along with ongoing negotiations for a ceasefire in the Strip.
Since late May, Israel has handed authority over aid distribution in Gaza to the GHF, in a stated effort to prevent aid supplies from reaching Hamas.
The GHF’s operations have been strongly criticized by the international community for failing to address the humanitarian needs in Gaza.
The UN said Friday that nearly 800 people have died trying to access aid in Gaza since late May, with most killed near the GHF distribution sites.
GHF, which denies that deadly incidents have occurred at its sites, said the UN figures were “false and misleading.â€� The IDF repeated Friday that it had issued instructions to troops in the field “following lessons learned.”
Israel and the United States have publicly urged the UN to work through the GHF, but the UN has refused, questioning the group’s neutrality and accusing the distribution model of militarizing aid and forcing displacement. There have been multiple deadly incidents reported around the GHF sites in Gaza.
According to Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry, more than 57,000 people have been killed in the Strip since the war there began on October 7, 2023. The Hamas-provided death toll cannot be independently verified and does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Hamas-led terrorists massacred some 1,200 people and took 251 hostage after invading Israel on October 7, 2023.
Terror groups in the Gaza Strip are still holding 50 hostages, including 49 of the 251 abducted by Hamas-led terrorists on October 7, 2023. They include the bodies of at least 28 confirmed dead by the IDF. Twenty are believed to be alive, and there are grave concerns for the well-being of two others, Israeli officials have said. Hamas is also holding the body of an IDF soldier killed in Gaza in 2014.
Israel’s toll in the ground offensive against Hamas in Gaza and in military operations along the border with the Strip stands at 451.