10/1/2025–|Last updated: 10/1/202510:44 PM (Mecca time)
Amid talks in Doha to reach an agreement on Gaza, the Israeli Broadcasting Corporation revealed that Qatar had conveyed a positive message from the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) to Israel, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu subsequently held an urgent meeting with his negotiating team.
While Steven Witkoff, US President-elect Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, discussed in Doha with the Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman the course of the negotiations, Washington renewed its optimism about reaching an agreement as soon as possible.
The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation reported that Qatar conveyed a positive message from Hamas to Israel to make progress in the negotiations. The letter concerns the list of prisoners and other points of disagreement between the two sides.
The authority quoted unnamed foreign sources as saying, “Israel and Hamas discussed the possibility of a permanent ceasefire to create continuity between the phases of the agreement. They also reached a preliminary agreement for negotiations regarding the second phase with the implementation of the first.”
Preliminary agreement
She said that Israel and Hamas reached a preliminary agreement to conduct negotiations on the second phase simultaneously with the implementation of the first phase, and the two parties discussed the possibility of a permanent ceasefire with the aim of creating continuity between all phases of the agreement and achieving the release of all prisoners.
The authority noted that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held an urgent meeting with Defense Minister Israel Katz and the negotiating team following the positive message from Hamas.
Earlier, Axios quoted American and Israeli officials confirming that there are gaps between Israel and Hamas despite some progress in the negotiations.
Meanwhile, White House communications advisor John Kirby said that US President Joe Biden spoke with his negotiating team in the ceasefire talks in Gaza.
Kirby added that work is underway seriously to reach a ceasefire in Gaza.
Kirby noted that talks are still ongoing in Doha and that some progress has been achieved, but this does not mean that the mission is complete. He stressed that Washington wants to reach an agreement before Biden’s term ends. Kirby said that the failure to reach an agreement so far is due to the obstacles placed by Hamas, and added that Hamas’ positions make it difficult to reach an agreement.
Burns’ statements
For his part, CIA Director William Burns said that there is still a chance to conclude an agreement on Gaza and that he has learned through difficult experience not to raise his expectations.
Burns added that he will work hard to conclude an agreement on Gaza until January 20, and that coordination with the next administration is very good, stressing that there is an opportunity.
He pointed out that the matter is not just details in the negotiation texts, but rather concerns detainees in conditions he described as hellish, and civilians in Gaza who he said suffer from similar conditions, especially in the winter.
Burns said that there is every reason for political leaders to realize that enough is happening, that the ideal solution is rarely available in the Middle East, and that the time has come to reach an agreement.
The CIA director expressed his belief that the negotiations currently underway are very serious, and provide at least the possibility of completing the agreement in the next few weeks.
Missing
On the other hand, a leading source in the Al-Qassam Brigades, the military arm of the Hamas movement, said, “Most of the enemy prisoners within the northern Gaza Strip brigade are missing, due to the Zionist aggression.”
The leader of the Al-Qassam Brigades told Tel Aviv Tribune, “The brigades have repeatedly warned against reaching this result in the areas of aggression, but Netanyahu and his army insist on escaping this issue in their own way.” He stressed that “the enemy’s government and army bear full responsibility for the lives and fate of their prisoners.”
He faltered and advanced
More than once, the prisoner exchange negotiations conducted with Qatari-Egyptian-American mediation have faltered as a result of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s insistence on continuing control over the Philadelphia border axis between Gaza and Egypt, and the Rafah crossing, and preventing the return of Palestinian faction fighters to northern Gaza by searching the returnees through the Netzarim corridor. The middle of the sector.
On the other hand, Hamas insists on a complete withdrawal of Israel from the Gaza Strip and a complete cessation of the war, in order to accept any agreement.
Tel Aviv holds more than 10,300 Palestinians in its prisons, while it estimates there are 100 Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip, while Hamas announced the killing of dozens of its prisoners in random Israeli raids.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel, with American support, has been committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, leaving more than 155,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 11,000 missing, amid massive destruction and deadly famine.
