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Hostage deal between Israel and Hamas appears elusive as negotiations continue
From CNN's MJ Lee, Becky Anderson and Alex Marquardt
A deal to secure the release of a large number of hostages that Hamas is holding in Gaza appears elusive for now, despite active negotiations involving the US, Israel, Qatar and Hamas.
There is no prospect of Israel agreeing to a sustained pause in fighting without a substantial number of hostages being released, one senior US official told CNN. The multi-party talks in which Qatar is playing a key mediating role have been ongoing for weeks and have so far produced many ideas, including the release of around 10 to 15 hostages in exchange for a one- or two-day ceasefire, diplomatic sources close to the talks said.
But as of Wednesday, such a proposal was not on the table, the US official said.
One Israeli official said Israel was ready for a pause if there could be certainty that Hamas was serious about releasing hostages. What is not clear is how long of a pause Israel would be willing to agree to, and what would amount to an acceptable number of hostages released.
Negotiations have also centered around exchanging hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, CNN has previously reported.
Only a handful of hostages including two American citizens have been released since the start of the war. After their successful exit, US President Joe Biden revealed that Israel had agreed to a brief ceasefire to secure their release.
The Biden administration has continued to call on Israel to put in place additional humanitarian pauses to facilitate the release of more hostages. Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will not agree to a ceasefire without the release of hostages, a message he reiterated in a social media post Wednesday.
The weeks-long efforts to try to get a big group of hostages out have brought to light a myriad of complexities. The hostages, who are of various nationalities, are not believed to be in one location and it is not clear exactly how many of them are in Gaza; communication with Hamas is slow; and there are concerns about how to safely move any big group of civilians through Gaza when the strip is under constant bombardment.
Officials have also stressed that Hamas is far from a typical and by any means a trustworthy negotiating partner. Frankly, we're dealing with Hamas, a senior administration official said. This is not something that anyone is expecting [to be conducted in] good faith.