Mediators seek a new deal to release more than half of the hostages in Gaza

TEL AVIV, Israel — Mediators in Qatar are making efforts to negotiate the release of more than half the remaining hostages held by Palestinian militants in Gaza, according to an official familiar with the new round of talks aimed at reaching a new ceasefire deal in Gaza.

President Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff is taking part in the talks in Qatar’s capital, Doha. They are the most serious Israel-Hamas talks since Trump took office in January. But the Israeli negotiating team taking part is a working-level, not senior-level, group with a limited mandate, the official said.

Mediators are trying to reach confidence-building steps between the sides, but there is no significant progress yet, according to the official who had no authorization to speak publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity about the negotiations.

Israel is seeking a new deal for a partial hostage release

Israel believes 24 hostages are still alive in Gaza and held by Palestinian militants — 22 Israelis, including one dual U.S. citizen, one Thai national and one Nepalese national. The bodies of dozens of other hostages are also being held in Gaza.

Nearly 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage on Oct. 7, 2023 in the Hamas-led attack on Israel that sparked the war in Gaza, according to the Israeli government. More than 48,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed in Israeli strikes during the subsequent war, according to Gaza health officials.

Hamas has called for Israel to uphold its original ceasefire agreement which stipulated negotiations toward a second phase of the truce that would see an Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza’s border with Egypt and a final end of war.

Israel wants a different deal: extending the ceasefire temporarily and exchanging more hostages for Palestinian prisoners. Israeli officials say they refuse to withdraw troops from the border due to fears of weapons smuggling, and will not commit to ending the war so long as Hamas is still in control of Gaza.

Israel is trying to pressure Hamas to accept new ceasefire terms

In an effort to pressure Hamas to agree to those terms, Israel is blocking all aid supplies to Gaza, including food, fuel and electricity, which humanitarian aid groups have condemned as depriving civilians of basic necessities.

“Israeli authorities are yet again normalising the use of aid as a negotiation tool. This is outrageous. Humanitarian aid should never be used as a bargaining chip in war,” said Myriam Laaroussi of the group Médecins Sans Frontières in a statement. “The blockade on all supplies is inevitably hurting hundreds of thousands of people and is having deadly consequences.”

Lebanese and Israeli officials met to try to resolve disputes

Israel is also taking part in a new mediation effort with Lebanon to resolve disputes along their border, following more than a year of fighting between the Lebanese Hezbollah militia and Israel.

Israeli and Lebanese officials met in the Lebanese border village Naqoura on Tuesday for talks mediated by the U.S. and France.

An Israeli government statement said the sides discussed longtime disputes over where to draw the land border between the countries, and discussed the five areas in southern Lebanon where Israeli troops remain despite a recent truce agreement that dictated their withdrawal.

Israel said it agreed to release five Lebanese detainees as a gesture to Lebanon’s new president, whom Israel hopes will rein in the Hezbollah militia.