The ongoing bloodshed in Gaza may once again stop.
Israel and Qatar are again ready for talks regarding this. In fact, Qatar is negotiating with Israel on behalf of Hamas, the organization that controls Palestine’s Gaza Strip.
Israeli and Qatari officials are to meet in Norway, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The meeting aims to restart talks regarding the release of hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for a ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.
The report claims that Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani is going to meet David Barnia, director of Israel’s intelligence agency Mossad, in Oslo (Norway).
Sources have described this conversation as a big initiative. The news of talks regarding a ceasefire in Gaza has come at a time when the Israeli army had killed three of its own people ‘mistakenly considering them to be Hamas terrorists’. All three were Israeli citizens taken hostage by Hamas.
The report claims that Mossad chief David Barnia is also likely to meet Egyptian officials. It said the resumption of talks on a new hostage deal had been hit by some significant setbacks, including disagreements over potential terms within Hamas.
During a week-long ceasefire in late November, Hamas released more than 100 women, children and foreigners held in Gaza in exchange for the release of 240 women and teenagers.
Israel reached a compromise because of the accidental killing of three hostages?
Yotam Haim, Alon Shamriz and Samer al-Talalka were accidentally shot during the operation in Gaza City, the Israeli military said. All three were Israeli citizens, who were held hostage by Hamas since October 7.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called it an “unbearable tragedy.” After this incident, protests started in Tel Aviv. The three were among about 250 people taken hostage during Hamas’ October 7 attacks in Israel.
About 1,140 Israelis were killed in the Hamas attack. Israeli retaliatory attacks in Gaza have killed at least 18,800 people, mostly women and children.