Israel’s war cabinet agrees to send negotiating team to Paris for hostage talks

Israel’s war cabinet has greenlit the dispatch of a negotiating team, headed by Mossad Director David Barnea, to Paris on Friday for discussions aimed at brokering a potential ceasefire and securing the release of hostages, according to a senior Israeli official.

The negotiating team is anticipated to have the authority to engage in substantive negotiations, contrasting with their previous role of primarily listening to proposals during meetings held in Cairo last week, the official disclosed.

Final approval for the mission is expected to be granted following an overnight vote by the full Israeli cabinet.

Sources familiar with the matter have revealed that CIA Director Bill Burns, alongside counterparts from Egypt and Qatar, is slated to convene in Paris on Friday for talks. However, the attendance of the Israeli delegation is yet to be officially confirmed by the government.

The decision to dispatch the negotiating team materialized during a pivotal war cabinet meeting on Thursday evening, following a day marked by discussions between top Israeli officials and Brett McGurk, President Joe Biden’s Middle East coordinator, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

An Israeli official cited the government’s insistence on confirmation of the delivery of medication to hostages in Gaza as a prerequisite for reentering negotiations. Positive signals from discussions in Cairo on Wednesday, coupled with urging from US officials, culminated in Israel’s agreement to send a negotiating team to Paris.

The move comes amidst efforts by the Biden administration to secure a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict before Ramadan next month, with the release of over 100 Israeli hostages from Gaza perceived as a pivotal step towards halting the deadly confrontations, as per CNN reports.

Heightening the urgency of the discussions is Israel’s looming threat to launch an offensive into Rafah in southern Gaza, where over a million displaced Palestinians have sought refuge. US officials have expressly cautioned Israel against advancing further south without ensuring the safety of civilians in the area.

Hamas leaders have been engaged in discussions in Cairo this week, seeking to advance negotiations after Netanyahu rebuffed the latest proposals from the militant group as “delusional.”

Among the major points of contention in the talks, sources familiar with the discussions point to Hamas’ demands for the release of approximately 1,500 prisoners in the initial phase, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, and negotiations aimed at formally ending the conflict.

Hamas’ political leader Ismail Haniyeh concluded a three-day visit to Egypt on Thursday, where discussions with Egyptian intelligence officials reportedly centered on the situation in Gaza and the possibility of a hostage-prisoner exchange, according to a Hamas statement issued on Friday.

The first hostage deal in late November resulted in the release of numerous hostages held by Hamas since October 7, alongside a week-long ceasefire. However, with the expiration of that truce three months ago, civilian casualties in Gaza have surged, triggering global condemnation of Israel’s military operations and mounting political pressure on the Biden administration to advocate for a lasting cessation of hostilities.

Israel has issued a warning that failure to reach a hostage deal by the commencement of Ramadan on March 10 will prompt the Israeli military to proceed with its planned offensive in Rafah, notwithstanding escalating international appeals for restraint.

During a meeting at the Ministry of Defense headquarters in Tel Aviv on Thursday, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced an expansion of the mandate of hostage negotiators, while affirming the Israel Defense Forces’ preparations for continued intensive ground operations, as per a statement from his office.

Rafah stands as the last bastion for Palestinians fleeing the onslaught, with over 1.5 million individuals crammed into makeshift tent cities along the Egyptian border, grappling with acute shortages of essential supplies. In recent weeks, the Israeli military has intensified aerial bombardments on central and northern Gaza, resulting in the obliteration of entire families and displacement shelters.

Thursday evening witnessed a fresh wave of Israeli airstrikes in central Gaza, claiming the lives of at least 23 individuals, according to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza, with fears that the death toll may rise.

The strikes follow a spate of Israeli assaults throughout the week, which resulted in the deaths of at least 118 Palestinians within a 24-hour period on Wednesday alone, as reported by the Ministry of Health. Among the casualties were a prominent doctor, his daughter, a human rights lawyer, and an international soccer referee.

The dire situation in Gaza was further underscored by an account from one of the last remaining doctors at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, southern Gaza, describing conditions as “desperate and catastrophic,” with shortages of electricity, oxygen, heating, and scant provisions of food and water following an Israeli incursion last week.

Israel’s military offensive was triggered by Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, resulting in approximately 1,200 casualties. Since then, Israeli assaults on Gaza have claimed the lives of at least 29,313 Palestinians and injured over 69,333 others, according to figures released by the Ministry of Health in Gaza.