Hamas says it is open to all suggestions, but demands a halt to the invasion as a precondition
William Burns, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), testifying before the U.S. House of Representatives
[EPA 연합뉴스자료사진. 재판매 및 DB 금지]
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Hwang Cheol-hwan = Senior officials from the United States, Israel, and Qatar met in Poland on the 18th (local time) to discuss resuming hostage release negotiations with the Palestinian armed faction Hamas.
The American daily New York Times (NYT) reported that Bill Burns, Director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), met with David Varnia, Director of Israel’s foreign intelligence agency Mossad, and Qatari Prime Minister Muhammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Warsaw, Poland.
Director Varnia has been representing Israel in negotiations with Hamas, and the U.S. White House has ordered Director Burns to cooperate with him, the media reported.
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Director Varnia and Director Burns are said to have met with Prime Minister Al Thani of Qatar, who has been mediating negotiations with Hamas, to discuss related issues.
Since the war broke out due to a surprise attack by Hamas on October 7, Israel and the United States have not communicated directly with Hamas but have communicated their positions through Qatar.
It is not known what specific conversation took place here. A CIA spokesperson declined to answer related questions, citing an internal policy not to discuss matters related to the intelligence agency’s head’s travels.
Director Varnia contacted Prime Minister Al Thani in Oslo, Norway, on the 15th at the direction of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Hamas, which raided Israel on October 7 this year, murdered over 1,200 people, including civilians, soldiers, and foreigners, and kidnapped and took over 240 people hostage.
Among the hostages, 105, including women, minors, and foreigners, were released in exchange for 240 Palestinian women and minor prisoners imprisoned in Israel during the seven-day ceasefire period that began on the 24th of last month.
As follow-up negotiations broke down, Israel and Hamas resumed war on the 1st of this month.
Since then, Prime Minister Netanyahu has maintained a hard-line policy despite increasing domestic and international pressure, led by the United States, to prioritize the release of hostages. However, on the 15th, an incident occurred where Israeli troops operating in the Gaza Strip mistakenly killed a hostage of their own who was approaching with a white flag. As he lost, he was pushed into a political corner.
This is why suppressed discontent exploded, with thousands of people protesting in Tel Aviv on the 16th demanding an immediate ceasefire for the release of hostages.
However, since both Israel and Hamas have deep distrust of each other and there is a large difference of opinion regarding the conditions for the release of additional hostages, it seems likely that there will be considerable difficulties in resuming negotiations.
For example, when the extension of the temporary ceasefire failed, U.S. officials said that Hamas had violated the agreement to release all female hostages, but Hamas stated that it could not release them because they were soldiers.
Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan said at a press conference in Lebanon that day, “We are open to any proposals from Egypt and Qatar to exchange Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners,” but said they would not enter into negotiations until the Israeli invasion stops.
hwangch@yna.co.kr
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2023/12/19 08:11 Sent
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2023-12-18 23:11:26
