Israel (BN24) – Negotiations aimed at securing a Gaza ceasefire and the release of hostages are close to falling apart, according to Palestinian officials familiar with the talks.
The discussions, taking place in Doha, Qatar, have brought Israeli and Hamas delegations into indirect “proximity” negotiations, with mediators shuttling messages between them over the past week. But Palestinian representatives told the BBC late Friday that the process has reached a critical impasse.
A senior Palestinian negotiator accused Israel of deliberately slowing the talks to coincide with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Washington, describing the Israeli delegation as lacking any real authority to finalize decisions.
“They were never serious about these talks,” the official said. “They used these rounds to buy time and project a false image of progress.”
The talks have been mediated by Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, Egyptian intelligence officials, and US envoy Brett McGurk. Since Sunday, there have been eight sessions, with teams convening in separate buildings.
Before leaving the United States on Thursday, Netanyahu struck an optimistic tone, saying he hoped to reach an agreement “in a few days.” Under the proposal, Hamas would release half of the 20 living hostages it still holds, along with more than half of the 30 known deceased hostages, in exchange for a 60-day truce.
But Palestinian officials said that optimism belied severe disagreements, particularly over how humanitarian aid would be delivered into Gaza and how far Israeli troops would withdraw.
According to mediators, Hamas has insisted on UN and international organizations distributing aid, while Israel has pushed for using the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a mechanism backed by the US and Israeli governments. Although there has been incremental progress on that issue, no agreement has been finalized.
The wider disagreement concerns Israel’s proposed military withdrawal. During one round of talks, Israeli negotiators submitted a message outlining a limited buffer zone inside Gaza between 1 and 1.5 kilometers deep. Hamas indicated it could treat that as a potential starting point.
However, a subsequent map Israel provided contradicted the earlier statement, showing much deeper positions—up to 3 kilometers deep in some areas—and confirming Israeli military presence across large parts of the territory.
The map detailed plans to maintain control over the entire southern city of Rafah, 85% of Khuzaa village east of Khan Younis, sections of Beit Lahia and Beit Hanoun in the north, and neighborhoods in eastern Gaza City, including Tuffah, Shejaiya, and Zeitoun.
Hamas negotiators saw the map as evidence of bad faith, further eroding already fragile trust.
Palestinian officials said these shifting proposals reinforced fears that Israel aims to engineer long-term displacement. They cited Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz’s plan to establish a camp in Rafah to house Palestinians displaced by the war, describing it as part of a strategy to force people out of Gaza permanently.
According to Katz, the initial phase would accommodate around 600,000 people, eventually growing to encompass Gaza’s 2.1 million residents. Under the plan, Israeli forces would screen individuals before entry and bar them from leaving.
Human rights organizations and legal experts have condemned the idea, warning that it amounts to creating what some have called a “concentration camp.”
As the talks teeter, Palestinian officials are urging the United States to step in more forcefully to pressure Israel to make concessions, saying only decisive intervention can prevent collapse.
Diplomats in Doha caution that while a narrow window for compromise still exists, the outlook is increasingly grim.
“This process is hanging by a thread,” one regional official told the BBC. “Unless something changes dramatically and quickly, we may be heading towards a breakdown.”
The negotiations come against the backdrop of the devastating war triggered by the Hamas-led assault on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which approximately 1,200 people were killed and 251 were taken hostage.
Since then, Israel’s military campaign has killed at least 57,823 people in Gaza, according to the enclave’s Hamas-run health ministry.
