Brian McDonald
Negotiations between Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement to release Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip are expected to resume next week, two sources with knowledge told CBS News on Saturday. Negotiators from Qatar, Egypt and the United States will take part in the negotiations.
“There is progress,” a senior Biden administration official told CBS News. “Contacts are ongoing and we are working closely with Egyptian and Qatari mediators. These contacts will continue over the next week as we seek to move the negotiation process forward.”
CIA Director William Burns traveled to Paris last week as part of a high-level effort to revive hostage talks, which have faltered in recent weeks.
In Israel, hostage families continue to pressure Netanyahu’s politically embattled government to reach a diplomatic agreement with Hamas to bring their loved ones home after nearly eight months of captivity. It is believed that around 120 hostages are still being held, including five US citizens.
Hamas has pressured Israel for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza.
A previous round of talks in Cairo ended in early May without significant progress, although US officials expressed optimism that differences between Israel and Hamas could be overcome. Burns led the US delegation to Egypt and remains in contact with David Barnea, head of Mossad, Israel’s national intelligence agency.
A source in the region indicated that progress was made at Friday’s Paris meeting with Burns, Barnea and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani. Two US officials indicated that their work in Paris will help bring all parties closer to resuming hostage negotiations.
During a commencement address at West Point on Saturday, President Joe Biden said the U.S. is engaged in “urgent diplomacy to ensure [an] immediate ceasefire that brings hostages home.”
On Friday, the White House announced that Biden had discussed with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi “new initiatives” to secure the release of hostages, along with an “immediate and sustained ceasefire” in Gaza.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke with Israeli war cabinet, minister Benny Gantz on Friday. The State Department spokesperson said it included a discussion of the “latest efforts to reach a ceasefire as part of an agreement to free hostages and prevent the conflict from expanding throughout the region.”
The war in Gaza followed a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, which killed around 1,200 people, around a quarter of them soldiers, and another 250 were taken prisoner. At least 35,000 Palestinians were killed in Gaza, according to the Ministry of Health, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians.
Michal Ben-Gal, Kristin Brown and Arden Farhi contributed reporting.
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