The CIA director met with Qatari and Egyptian officials on Wednesday as the Biden administration launches new efforts toward a ceasefire in Gaza, but Israel and Hamas appear to remain deeply divided over the latest proposal to halt the fighting.
U.S. intelligence director William J. Burns met in Doha, Qatar, with Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, according to an official briefed on the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private meeting.
Egypt and Qatar have played key intermediaries in talks between Israel and Hamas that don’t involve direct talks. By sending Burns, the Biden administration signaled it remains heavily invested in brokering a ceasefire to end the bloodshed in Gaza and calm tensions in the broader region.
The official said the talks were focused on finding a way to bring Israel and Hamas closer to an agreement, and that Qatar had received a preliminary positive response from Hamas to a ceasefire proposal approved by President Biden last week, but was still waiting for a formal response.
An official briefed on the talks said the Qatari prime minister and Kamel also met with Hamas leaders on Wednesday to discuss the proposal.
Biden described the proposal as a new Israeli proposal that would begin with a six-week cessation of fighting and ultimately lead to a “permanent cessation of hostilities,” raising hopes that an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians to end the nearly eight-month-old war is finally near. But since the president made the proposal public, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly refused to end the war without first destroying Hamas’ governing and military capabilities.
On Wednesday, Hamas officials reiterated the group’s position that it will not agree to any deal that does not provide for a permanent ceasefire. Senior official Bassem Naim said it “doesn’t make sense” for the group to negotiate while Israeli forces are launching new attacks in Gaza, and that Hamas would not accept a temporary ceasefire.
“Those who are thirsty will drink a little, and those who are hungry will eat a little, and then in a month and a half we will be killed again?” he said.
An official briefed on the Qatar talks said recent comments by Netanyahu and other Israeli officials have raised doubts among Hamas officials about whether Israel wants a permanent halt to fighting.
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said on Tuesday that the ministry was “waiting for a clear Israeli position on behalf of the entire government.”
A second person familiar with the negotiations said Burns’ time in Doha is not expected to produce any major breakthroughs amid the national differences, and spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the sensitive diplomatic issue. Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in the Gaza Strip and the alleged mastermind of the Oct. 7 terror attack in southern Israel, has not yet offered his opinion on the latest proposal, the person said.
White House Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk is also due to return to the region this week for meetings in Cairo, U.S. officials said.
U.S. national security adviser Jake Sullivan said Wednesday that Biden’s proposal “remains a valid proposal,” even though Netanyahu has not publicly endorsed it and two of his cabinet members have said they oppose any deal that leaves Hamas intact.
“Israel is a noisy democracy, so there’s a lot of talk and chatter,” Sullivan said. interview He told NBC’s “Today” show, “But the Israeli government has repeatedly reaffirmed that the proposal is still on the table and that it is up to Hamas to accept it. And the whole world should call on Hamas to accept it.”
The first phase of Biden’s proposal called for the two sides to observe a six-week interim ceasefire while they continue negotiations toward a permanent ceasefire. In a meeting with Israeli lawmakers on Monday, Netanyahu sounded open to a 42-day cessation of fighting and accepted at least parts of the first phase of the three-part plan outlined by Biden, a person who attended the meeting said.
At a press conference on Tuesday, Hamas spokesman Osama Hamdan said the latest Israeli position conveyed to the group did not include a permanent ceasefire or a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, as Hamas has been calling for. Israel is only interested in a temporary ceasefire to release the hostages, after which it would resume the war, Hamdan said.
“We call on the mediators to extract a clear position from the Israeli occupation forces,” he said.
Raja Abdul Rahim Contributed report.