Qatari mediators made urgent calls to Hamas to try to negotiate the freedom of Israeli women and children kidnapped and held in Gaza in exchange for the release of 36 Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons, a source briefed on the talks told the Reuters agency. The negotiations have been taking place in coordination with the United States since Saturday night and are “progressing positively,” according to the source.
A spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry told Reuters that “we are in constant contact with all parties. Our priority is to stop the bloodshed, free the prisoners and ensure that the conflict does not spread regionally.” An Israeli official instead said that “there are no negotiations underway.” However, the North American State Department acknowledged that its head, Antony Blinken, spoke with the Prime Minister of Qatar and both remain “coordinated.”
It is not clear the exact number of women and children, but also elderly, Israeli hostages that Hamas would be offering in the possible exchange of 36 Palestinian women and children prisoners. A Palestinian official familiar with mediation efforts with Hamas and Israel in the past told Reuters that Qatar and Egypt have been in contact with the group, but the intensity of the fighting casts a shadow over any potential progress.
Qatar, a small but wealthy energy and investment power that has ambitious foreign policy goals, has a direct line to Hamas. He has previously helped mediate truces between the Islamist group and Israel, and has acted as an intermediary between the US and Iran and the Afghan Taliban.
