Officials propose Hamas a six-week war pause and a hostage-prisoner swap

Representatives of four countries have agreed that Qatar will present a new framework to Hamas that proposes a six-week pause in the war in Gaza to allow Hamas to exchange some hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, officials say.

The talks are at an early stage and many details remain to be worked out if Hamas agrees to build on the framework, they said. Qatar is submitting the proposal to Hamas's political leaders, who will convey it to the group's military leaders, who will then send a response. That process could take days or even longer because the military leaders are hiding in tunnels deep under Gaza.

Under the proposed framework, Hamas would release elderly hostages, women and children, if they are still held and alive, during a six-week pause, said the officials, who agreed to speak on condition of anonymity to describe sensitive diplomacy. . That would be the first of three possible phases of swaps.

During a seven-day break in November, many people in these categories were among more than a hundred hostages released in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. But some remain in the hands of Hamas or other militant groups in Gaza.

Some Israeli officials say the number of hostages who would be eligible for initial release is 30 to 35, but that is an estimate and negotiators do not know the actual number. It is unclear whether female soldiers would be included among the hostages released in the tranche under discussion. That could be worked out in negotiations on the details, if talks reach that stage.

Hamas and other Gaza men took about 240 people hostage in the terrorist attacks in southern Israel on October 7, which also led to about 1,200 deaths, Israeli officials said. The Israeli army's retaliatory campaign, with strong arms support from the United States, has killed about 25,000 people in Gaza, according to Health Ministry officials.

Since the exchange in November, talks over the release of hostages have stalled. Hamas has tried to steer all diplomacy toward a discussion of a permanent ceasefire, but Israeli leaders have protested. A meeting in Paris was intended to get negotiations going again.

The terms of the broad framework were outlined in Paris on Sunday by representatives of the United States, Israel, Qatar and Egypt. William J. Burns, the director of the Central Intelligence Agency, was there, as were the heads of Israel's intelligence agency, Mossad, and the domestic security service, Shin Bet.

One official said Mr. Burns was very helpful in getting Israeli representatives to agree to some of the suggestions.

Israeli officials were expected to discuss the framework with leaders in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv after their return from Paris.

Qatar's Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani, flew from the meeting in Paris to Washington, where he met Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken on Monday morning.

Mr. Blinken declined to provide details about the framework at an afternoon news conference, saying that “the less said, the better.” But he said the proposal now on the table is “a compelling proposal” and that “there is some real hope for the future.”

He added that the countries in the talks agreed on the initial framework to be presented to Hamas.

But, he said, “Hamas will have to make its own decisions.”

Sheikh Mohammed said during a public lecture at the Atlantic Council after his meeting with Mr Blinken that “we are in a much better place than where we were a few weeks ago.”

“Our most important role as a mediator is to do our best to reach a negotiated solution where we can safely return the hostages to their homes and at the same time stop the bombing,” he added.

If the first proposed hostage-for-prisoner exchange is successful during a six-week lull in the war, two other phases with similar conditions could be introduced after details are worked out, officials briefed on the talks said. Eventually, they said, Hamas could hand over male soldiers and the bodies of people who died in captivity.

Some officials from the countries involved in the talks said they hoped the phases would lead to a permanent ceasefire. This was the hope among Qatari officials during the November lull, but it ultimately disintegrated when fighting restarted and negotiators were unable to prolong it.

The New York Times reported Saturday that U.S. officials are trying to make progress in three major negotiations to reach a political solution to the war. The first – and the one that US officials consider most urgent – ​​concerns the hostages and a pause that could lead to a permanent ceasefire.

The second involves overhauling the leadership of the Palestinian Authority, the semi-autonomous body that governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. And the third is about trying to get Israel to commit to a concrete path toward a Palestinian state, in exchange for Saudi Arabia agreeing to formal diplomatic ties with Israel.

Months before the Oct. 7 attacks, the Biden administration had talked to Saudi officials about offering U.S. security guarantees if they agreed to normalize ties with Israel.

Michael Crowley reporting contributed.