A delegation from Israel, spearheaded by the Mossad’s chief, Israel’s foreign intelligence service, visited Paris on Friday with the aim of trying to “unblock” the negotiations for a new ceasefire with Hamas in the Gaza Strip, as per Israeli media reports.
The same sources also confirmed that David Barnea, the head of Mossad, and Ronen Bar, the head of Shin Bet (Israel’s internal intelligence service), were on the flight to the French capital on Friday.
Paris, along with Cairo and Abu Dhabi, has become a hub for these crucial visits aiming to achieve a humanitarian ceasefire and the release of foreign and Israeli hostages, who have been detained by Hamas since the attack in Israel that took place on October 7.
The Mossad chief had a meeting in Paris in late January with his American and Egyptian counterparts and the Prime Minister of Qatar to discuss a new ceasefire agreement in Gaza.
In late November, a one-week truce was established which enabled the release of over a hundred hostages held by Hamas and 240 Palestinians imprisoned in Israel. A source from Hamas mentioned that the plan discussed in Paris in late January encompassed a six-week cessation of hostilities and the release of 200 to 300 Palestinian prisoners in exchange for 35 to 40 hostages held by Hamas.
Subsequent negotiations have also taken place in Egypt. Ismaïl Haniyeh, the leader of Hamas, made a “multi-day” visit to Cairo that culminated on Thursday afternoon, as per the Palestinian Islamist movement. The talks, according to Hamas, concentrated on the situation in Gaza, the “termination of Israeli aggression”, the “return of displaced individuals to their homes”, and a “prisoner exchange”.
Hamas’s demand
The Palestinian movement has been insisting for weeks on a “complete ceasefire” and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
These demands are considered “unrealistic” by the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose administration is open to a cessation of hostilities but insists on continuing its military operation to “annihilate” Hamas.
Netanyahu also opposes the release of prisoners who participated in anti-Israel attacks, demanded by Hamas. The extremist group now demands the release of Marwan Barghoutti, whom they call the Palestinian Mandela and has been imprisoned for two decades in Israeli prisons.
The relatives of the hostages fear that the far-right Israeli government will launch its offensive on Rafah, in the south of the Strip, and turn the hostages into “collateral damage.”
The war was triggered on October 7 by an unprecedented attack on Israel by Hamas commandos infiltrated from Gaza, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,160 people, mostly civilians.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to destroy Hamas, who took power in Gaza in 2007, launched an air, land and sea offensive that left more than 29,000 dead in the Palestinian territory, the vast majority civilians, according to the Ministry of Health, and more than 60,000 injured. At least 1,700,000 Gazans have their homes completely destroyed and have nowhere to live. The Strip is in full famine, without medicines or hospitals functioning. Humanitarian aid arrives in dribs and drabs.
