ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER Benjamin Netanyahu has announced he has agreed to send a delegation for talks on securing the release of hostages seized in the 7 October attacks.

In a statement after telephone talks with US President Joe Biden, Netanyahu’s office said: “The prime minister updated President Biden about his decision to send a delegation that would continue negotiations for freeing the hostages.”

There was no indication where the delegation would go or when it would leave.

In its own readout of the phone call, the White House said Biden welcomed the decision to have Israeli negotiators “engage” with mediators in a bid “to close out the deal”.

Netanyahu called a meeting of his security cabinet for later today to discuss new proposals sent by Hamas through Qatari mediators, media reports said.

Hamas has demanded an end to the fighting and an Israeli withdrawal as a prelude to any hostage deal.

Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed that the Gaza campaign will not end until Hamas’s military and government capabilities have been destroyed, something an Israeli military spokesperson recently said was not possible. 

Hamas political official Bassem Naim said the group “responded with some ideas to bridge the gap” between the two sides, without elaborating. Netanyahu’s office said the government was “evaluating” them.

Qatar, Egypt and the United States have been mediating between the two sides and sources close to their efforts said there had been a renewed push to bridge the “gaps” between the foes in recent weeks.

Biden announced a pathway to a truce deal in May which he said had been proposed by Israel and which included a six-week truce to allow for talks and eventually a programme to rebuild Gaza. But Israel never publicly endorsed the plan, even though it passed as a resolution at the UN Security Council. 

“There are important developments in the latest proposals with positive options for both sides,” said a diplomat briefed on the latest proposals. “This time the Americans are very serious about this.”

At its core, the US proposal calls for a three-phase process.

The first phase calls for a ceasefire, a withdrawal of Israeli forces from all densely populated areas of Gaza and the release of a number of hostages, including women, older people and the wounded, in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.

The proposal called for the parties to negotiate the terms of the second phase during the 42 days of phase one.

Under the current proposal, the negotiations are meant to lead to a “sustainable calm” and the withdrawal of all Israeli troops from Gaza – with the release of all remaining men, both civilians and soldiers, held captive by Hamas in return for an Israeli release of Palestinian prisoners.

The third phase would see the return of the remains of hostages.

The transition from the first to the second phase has appeared to be the main sticking point.

Hamas is concerned that Israel will restart its campaign after the first phase.

Netanyahu is under intense political pressure at home, with thousands protesting regularly to demand an end to the war through negotiations that would ensure the remaining hostages. 

The latest Israeli-Palestinian conflict started with the 7 October attack on southern Israel that resulted in the deaths of 1,195 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

Hamas militants also captured 251 hostages, 116 of whom remain in Gaza including 42 the army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory siege, bombardment and invasion of Gaza has killed at least 38,011 people, also mostly civilians, according to the territory’s health ministry.

With reporting from Press Association and AFP

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