What Hamas asks to free the 242 hostages: the secret negotiation between Israel and the Palestinian militia in Qatar

In its unexpected attack on October 7, Hamas took a large group of hostages (the number is never clear), numbering 242.. The list includes soldiers and especially civilians of all ages. They are captives and the Palestinian militia hopes to be able to exchange them for their prisoners in Israeli prisons.

It is believed that approximately half of the hostages are people with passports from up to 25 foreign countries, including about 54 Thais, 15 Argentines, 12 Americans, 12 Germans, six French and six Russians, according to North American media estimates.

“Israel will not negotiate with an enemy it promised to erase from the face of the earth.”

At the start of the current war, Hamas demanded the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for captives.. The demand is still that. Last Saturday, Abu Obeida, spokesman for the Al Qasam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, demanded the release of all Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails (an estimated 6,000) to release the two hundred hostages.

Qatar's mediation

Benjamin Netanyahu's Government officially rejects Hamas proposal. There is no barter, they insist. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant assured the hostages' relatives on Sunday that Hamas' offer is only part of its “psychological warfare” and Tzachi Hanegbi, head of the Israeli National Security Council, insisted that his country “does not will negotiate with an enemy whom he promised to erase from the face of the earth.”

However, it has emerged that David Barnea, head of Mossad, the main Israeli intelligence agency, traveled to Qatar a few days ago.. It was, of course, a secret mission, but according to Israeli media, he traveled to discuss the possibility of an agreement that would lead to the release of the hostages.. On other occasions, Qatar acted as a mediator between Israel and the Palestinian militias, but in less serious situations.

“One of the objectives of this war was to capture Israeli soldiers and officers.”

A week after the Hamas offensive, Khaled Meshal, former leader of the organization, said that they had the necessary means to achieve the freedom of Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.. “One of the objectives of this war was to capture Israeli soldiers and officers. “We have enough prisoners for the Palestinian prisoner exchange,” Meshal said on the Saudi channel Al-Arabiya.

Stalled conversations

“The large number of our prisoners in the hands of the enemy has the price of emptying all (Israeli) prisons of Palestinian prisoners,” Abu Obeida said in a video last weekend.. But, he added, Israel did not agree: “There was an opportunity to reach an agreement, but the enemy blocked it.”

“There was an opportunity to reach an agreement, but the enemy blocked it.”

With or without Qatar, talks are taking place, but stalled on Friday. This is what happened after Hamas demanded that Israel allow fuel supplies to Gaza and Hamas refused to guarantee the release of large numbers of foreign captives, according to a former US official with knowledge of the negotiations cited by NBC. .

“Hamas has insisted on receiving fuel,” this person said.. This former official, another Israeli official and a diplomat with knowledge of the talks said they broke down before Israel launched the second phase of its offensive last Friday night and sent ground troops to Gaza.

The negotiation divides Israel

This hypothetical negotiation keeps Israelis divided. According to a survey by the Israel Democracy Institute, 45% of citizens are against the mass release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the two hundred hostages, while 40% are in favor.

To the 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, another 1,200 should be added who have been detained in recent weeks in Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem for alleged links with the militias.

Hamas says it will release several foreigners in the coming days. “We have informed the intermediaries that we will release a certain number of foreigners in the coming days, in accordance with our previously announced position that we do not want or need to detain them or continue to detain them in Gaza,” the Hamas spokesman explained on Tuesday in a video.

For now, four released

So far, Qatar's mediation in the talks has allowed the release of four people, two Americans and two elderly Israeli women, on two different days.. Jason Straziuso, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross, which acted as intermediary in those two releases, has acknowledged that enormous levels of trust will be needed to free large numbers of hostages.

Hostage taking has been a tactic frequently used by different Palestinian militant groups to pressure Israel to achieve the release of its prisoners.. In 2011, Israel exchanged hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for the release of an Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit, kidnapped and held captive by Hamas for five years.