Netanyahu hosts Trump envoy on Gaza hostage talks

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(Jan. 11, 2025 / JNS) — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met on Saturday afternoon with President-elect Donald Trump’s Center East envoy Steve Witkoff, in what was described as a “shock go to” to debate the multilateral negotiations with Hamas for the discharge of Israeli hostages and a ceasefire in Gaza.

Witkoff arrived in Israel after talks in Doha with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

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Channel 12 cited a “senior Israeli” saying that Trump has been personally concerned within the matter over the past couple of days, expressing his want to urgently cement a deal earlier than he enters workplace on Jan. 20.

Netanyahu on Saturday night held a state of affairs evaluation dialogue on the problem of prisoners and lacking individuals with Protection Minister Israel Katz, the heads of the safety institution, and the negotiators from the outgoing and incoming U.S. administrations, the Prime Minister’s Bureau stated.

On the finish of the dialogue, the prime minister directed Mossad Director David Barnea; Israel Safety Company (Shin Guess) chief Ronen Bar; Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, the pinnacle of the Lacking and Captive Troopers Part within the Navy Intelligence Directorate; and political adviser Ofir Fleck to go to Doha to proceed advancing a deal for the discharge of the abductees within the Gaza Strip, the assertion continued.

In keeping with Ynet, “further progress” has been made within the negotiations however disagreements stay.

The report talked about the transition from stage one of many proposed truce — a “humanitarian” part of releasing hostages — to stage two as the primary hurdle. The edges are arguing about authorized wordings and every is insisting on holding a level of “freedom of motion,” Ynet reported.

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Qatari-owned, London-based newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed quoted a senior Hamas official as saying, “The ultimate imaginative and prescient of the settlement is completed. There are preparations between the mediators relating to the announcement of the settlement. We’re all ready for the envoy of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to reach in Doha and render his approval for the newest amendments.”

Nevertheless, numerous Arab- and Hebrew-language studies gave conflicting studies on whether or not Hamas agreed handy over a listing of stay hostages held within the Gaza Strip.

CIA Director William J. Burns spoke to NPR on Friday and was requested concerning the negotiations.

“I’ve realized the onerous means to not get my hopes up. [But] I do suppose there stays an opportunity to get a deal,” he stated.

He went on to say that an settlement is “about human beings. It’s about hostages held in hellish situations. It’s about their households with whom I meet recurrently. And it’s about Gazan civilians who’re additionally in hellish situations proper now and struggling terribly, particularly by means of this winter.”

Burns added that “there’s each motive for political leaders to acknowledge that sufficient is sufficient. That excellent is never on the menu within the Center East and that it’s time to make a deal. And I do suppose the negotiations which might be happening proper now are fairly critical and do supply the likelihood, at the very least, of getting this achieved within the subsequent couple of weeks.”

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Throughout a press convention at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property in Palm Seashore, Fla., on Tuesday, Witkoff, a Jewish businessman and longtime good friend of the president-elect, expressed optimism concerning the ongoing discussions.

“I consider they’re doing a superb job in Doha,” Witkoff stated. “I’m hopeful that by the (Jan. 20) inauguration, we’ll have constructive information to share on behalf of the president. It’s actually the president’s imaginative and prescient, his fame, and his phrases which might be driving these negotiations. So, hopefully, every little thing will come collectively, and lives shall be saved.”

When requested whether or not a deal might be reached earlier than his inauguration, Trump stated, “There higher be.”

He reiterated his stark warning concerning the fallout for Hamas if the hostages are usually not launched.

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