Negotiation Teams Officially Sign Hostage-release Deal in Doha

January 17, 2025

by: Itamar Eichner, Shilo Freid, Einav Halabi ~ Ynetnews

Friday, 17 January 2025 | The last-minute crisis toward the ceasefire and hostage-release deal has been resolved, and after a 24-hour delay, Israel, Hamas, the US and Qatar have officially signed the deal in Doha. PM’s Office says Cabinet to convene on Friday to approve the deal, followed by a government meeting.

Israeli officials said Thursday evening that the crisis surrounding the identity of the Palestinian terrorists who will be released in the hostage deal has been resolved. “There is a deal,” they announced. However, a political source later stated that a final agreement has not yet been reached and, contrary to previous estimates, the government will not meet Friday to approve the deal, but only on Saturday night.

This means that the ceasefire and the first release of the hostages will not begin on Sunday as planned, but only on Monday. Monday is the day that President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in—a date he himself declared as the deadline for the release of the hostages. Trump will be sworn in at 7:00 p.m. Israeli time. According to the agreement, the first three hostages will be released on the first day of the deal’s implementation, and four more will be released on the seventh day.

Senior Israeli officials said Thursday evening that it is likely that if a “final green light” is received from the team continuing talks in Doha, the political-security cabinet will convene Friday to approve the deal, but according to the officials, there will not be enough time for another required meeting of the government plenum, and therefore the first release of kidnapped women can only take place on Monday.

Friday’s cabinet meeting is expected to be very long, and for this reason it was preferable to postpone the government meeting until Saturday evening. Only after that will the list of Palestinian prisoners who will be released be published, and an additional period of time will be given for petitions to the High Court against the release of individual terrorists. It is impossible to petition the High Court at the end of the week, so even convening the government after the Sabbath will not change the course of events, and only on Saturday evening will it be possible to begin the appeal process, which they hope to shorten from 48 hours to 24 hours.

The political source claimed that there is still no final conclusion and therefore there is still no official decision on convening the cabinet and government.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu is adamant on finalizing all the details of the agreement before he brings it to the cabinet and government for approval,” the political source said. “This is how he firmly opposed Hamas’s demand to change the deployment of our forces on the Philadelphi Corridor and this is how he firmly stands against other demands from Hamas today, which deviate from the understandings reached during the negotiations. It seems that this insistence is bearing fruit, but until things are fully agreed upon, Prime Minister Netanyahu will not convene the cabinet and government,” he added.

Despite the apparent postponement, the Israeli delegation in Doha, the capital of Qatar, is expected to return to Israel in the coming hours. The cabinet and government meeting was first supposed to take place Thursday, but was postponed due to disagreements that emerged at the last minute over the deal.

In the background is also the coalition crisis that threatens the Netanyahu government, and on Thursday  evening, Minister of National Security Itamar Ben-Gvir announced that he and his whole party would resign from the government over the deal.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich also opposes the deal, but is not yet threatening immediate resignation and is demanding the resumption of fighting immediately after the end of the first phase as a condition for his remaining in the government.

Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri announced earlier this evening that he had received  “a final announcement that all obstacles have been overcome, and the hostage deal is underway.” According to Deri, who congratulated Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the agreement, “the parties are now busy with the final technical wording.”

Deri, who spoke at the annual Shas conference in Jerusalem, also addressed the widespread opposition to the deal in the coalition, saying: “I understand the opposition, I feel this pain, it’s not easy to release murderers, but we all know what the commandment of ransoming captives is. We grew up in the seminary of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and we know how important the commandment of ransoming captives was for him.”

Deri’s remarks came against the backdrop of a dispute that emerged at the last minute over the identities of the terrorists who would be released —including prisoners sentenced to life imprisonment. The parties argued over who is defined as “symbolic”—serious terrorists that Hamas has a great interest in releasing, and that Jerusalem does not wish to include in the deal.

The BBC reported that Hamas tried at the last minute to include the names of two “symbolic” terrorists imprisoned in Israel, so that they would be released as part of the deal. According to the report, this is an effort by the terrorist organization to project an “image of victory” and restore its popularity in the Gaza Strip, which was “significantly affected” by the events of the war, after many Palestinians—including in Gaza—said that Hamas was responsible for their suffering following the October 7 massacre.

At the same time, a Hamas source told the Quds TV network, which belongs to the terrorist organization: “The differences and interpretations that were reversed regarding some of the provisions of the ceasefire agreement have been resolved.” He said that the final agreement will be signed this evening.

Behind the scenes, a Shin Bet [Israeli internal security organization] “battle” was underway in the last dramatic hours over the names of the prisoners who would be released—or, more importantly, who would not be released. Shin Bet head Ronen Bar and his team in Doha sat with the lists and insisted on hours-long discussions with the mediators about each and every name. Their goal was that the list would not include terrorists who were a veto from the Shin Bet’s perspective, such as symbols or figures who could immediately influence the area, rehabilitate Hamas, or inspire terrorism. This is why the Israeli delegation was delayed in Doha, and this is what made it possible to move forward during the day and arrive towards the closing.

Another dispute concerned the question of presence on the Philadelphi Corridor, where, according to the prime minister’s spokesman, Omer Dostri, the differences of opinion concerned changes demanded by Hamas in the way forces would be deployed along the axis during the ceasefire. Israel had earlier estimated that the crisis would be resolved. “This is nothing more than last-minute arm-twisting,” said an Israeli official. The deal, he clarified, is “irreversible.”

White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby also said earlier that he was confident that the release of hostages could begin on Sunday, although “there are still some details that need to be worked out, and we are working very hard on them right now.” A US official later told Reuters that both Biden’s envoy to the region, Brett McGurk, and Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, were still in Doha, working to resolve the dispute.

Over 70% of Israelis Support Deal

A new poll conducted by the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS) shows that over 70% of Israelis support the hostage deal and a normalization arrangement with Saudi Arabia, including a path to separation from the Palestinians. An absolute majority of 72.5% of the entire Israeli population indicated that they would support a political plan by incoming President Donald Trump that includes the return of the hostages, an end to the war, normalization with Saudi Arabia, a moderate coalition against Iran, and a path to separation from the Palestinians. Only 14.5% of Israeli society as a whole indicated that they would oppose such a plan.

Posted on January 17, 2025

Source: (Excerpt of an article originally published by Ynetnews on January 17, 2025. See original article at this link.)

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