The Qatari capital is hosting a new round of negotiations today, Thursday, to reach an agreement on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and a prisoner and detainee exchange deal between the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) and Israel.

On the eve of the start of the Doha talks, Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani received a phone call from US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, during which they discussed the latest developments in the joint mediation efforts to end the war on the Gaza Strip and the ongoing tensions in the Middle East, and stressed the need for calm and de-escalation in the region.

The US State Department said in a statement that the two sides stressed that no party in the region should take actions that would undermine efforts to reach an agreement.

The US State Department said in another statement that Blinken discussed with his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdel Aty, "shared goals to enhance regional stability and diplomatic efforts to reduce tensions in the region."

In turn, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry confirmed that Abdel Aati stressed to Blinken the necessity of reaching an immediate and comprehensive ceasefire in Gaza, full access to humanitarian aid, positive engagement with Egyptian-Qatari-American mediation efforts, and engaging seriously and with real political will in ceasefire negotiations, as this is the only way to stop the escalation in the region and contain attempts to expand the circle of conflict.

Netanyahu and Trump

A correspondent for the American website Axios quoted Israeli officials as saying that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slightly expanded the mandate granted to the negotiating team regarding the exchange deal, and that he gave reasonable authorization to justify traveling to the round of talks in Qatar.

These officials told the website that Netanyahu's flexibility regarding the positions that Israel will present makes it possible to conduct negotiations and move forward, but it is not clear whether this flexibility is enough to conclude an agreement.

The officials explained that the negotiating team will head to Qatar for a few hours of talks, and if necessary, an Israeli working group will remain in Doha to conduct further negotiations.

For its part, the Israeli Broadcasting Authority said that Netanyahu is sticking to two conditions before the start of the Doha negotiations, which are to remain in the Philadelphi corridor and to search those returning to the northern Gaza Strip. It pointed out that if the withdrawal from the Philadelphi corridor takes place, Israel will demand measures to prevent Hamas from approaching the Egyptian border.

The Israeli delegation to the Doha negotiations includes Mossad chief David Barnea, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, the army's prisoner and missing persons affairs official, Major General Nitzan Alon, and political adviser Ofer Falk.

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump discussed the exchange deal and ceasefire in Gaza in a phone call with Netanyahu, according to what Axios reported, citing US sources who were briefed on the call.

A source said Trump's call was intended to encourage Netanyahu to accept the deal, but stressed that he did not know whether that was what the former president actually told Netanyahu.

Last month, Trump said in an interview with Fox News that Israel needed to end the war in Gaza as soon as possible and return the captives there.

Hamas's position

Hamas said yesterday that it will not participate in a new round of ceasefire talks, confirming its declared position of refusing to enter into new negotiations and its adherence to the paper presented by the mediators.

The American website "Axios" quoted sources as saying that Hamas made it clear that its representatives will not participate in Thursday's talks, but that they will be willing to meet with the mediators after that, to get an update, and to find out whether Israel will present a serious and practical proposal for the deal.

Reuters quoted Hamas leader Sami Abu Zuhri as saying that the movement "adheres to the mediators' paper that was presented to it on July 2, which is based on the Security Council resolution and US President Joe Biden's speech, and the movement is ready to immediately begin looking into the mechanisms for its implementation."

Abu Zuhri added: "Going to new negotiations allows the occupation to impose new conditions and exploit the maze of negotiations to commit more massacres."

AFP quoted a Hamas source as saying that the movement "will monitor and follow the progress of the negotiation round and whether the negotiation path is serious on the part of the occupation and useful for implementing the latest proposal or whether it is a continuation of the procrastination pursued by Netanyahu."

Former US President and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump discussed the exchange deal and ceasefire in Gaza in a phone call with Netanyahu, according to what Axios reported, citing US sources who were briefed on the call.

A source said Trump's call was intended to encourage Netanyahu to accept the deal, but stressed that he did not know whether that was what the former president actually told Netanyahu.

Last month, Trump said in an interview with Fox News that Israel needed to end the war in Gaza as soon as possible and return the captives there.

In early June, Biden presented the terms of a deal offered to him by Israel to stop the fighting and release all detainees, which Hamas accepted at the time. But Netanyahu added new conditions that both his Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Mossad chief David Barnea considered to be obstructive to efforts to reach a deal.

Hamas has stressed since the beginning of the indirect negotiations that any agreement must include a ceasefire in Gaza, the complete withdrawal of the occupation forces from the Strip, and the release of Palestinian prisoners held by the occupation in exchange for the release of Israeli detainees held by the resistance, which Hamas stresses in all its statements and the declarations of its leaders.

The new round of negotiations, unlike its predecessors, comes in more sensitive and complex contexts, after the assassination of Hamas political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, and the killing of Lebanese Hezbollah leader Fouad Shukr in Beirut, in two attacks for which Israel is anticipating a response from Iran and Hezbollah.

Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli army, with American support, has been waging a devastating war on Gaza, leaving more than 132,000 dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing.

The Biden administration on Tuesday approved new arms deals for Israel worth more than $20 billion, ignoring pressure from human rights groups calling for an end to arms supplies to Israel amid the rising death toll in Gaza.