Sinwar to Be Contacted Directly in Latest Round of Negotiations in Doha

By Hamodia Staff

Leader of the Hamas terror group in Gaza and mastermind of the Oct. 7 massacre Yahya Sinwar will, for the first time, reportedly join in the latest round of talks between Israel, Egypt, Qatar and the United States in Doha, the Jerusalem Post reported Monday, citing an unnamed official.

Representatives of the mediating countries and Israel met in the Qatari capital city Monday, to resume hostage release and military pause talks that had stalled between the Hamas terror group and Israel.

“We believe a deal is possible and we should be able to achieve it,” U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters in Washington.

“We in the United States are going to keep pushing on that,” Sullivan said. US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the potential deal when they spoke by phone on Monday afternoon.

“This deal has been more elusive than we hoped,” Sullivan added, and acknowledged that not enough pressure had been put on the terrorists to come to an agreement. Sullivan remarked that Hamas could “end this crisis tomorrow if it chose to do so.

“Far too little of the energy and the pressure to end this conflict has been applied to Hamas.”

Leading the Israeli delegation were Mossad Director David Barnea, IDF Maj.-Gen. (res.) Hostage Coordinator Nitzan Alon, and Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar.

A senior diplomatic official told the Post that unlike in previous negotiations, Sinwar will have a direct line of communication during the proceedings from his hideout. The official said that Hamas’ political officials stationed in Qatar are believed to have interfered with the negotiations, but they now have less influence on making decisions. Previously, it would take 24-36 hours to relay messages to Sinwar during negotiations, which the official said was a major roadblock to coming to an agreement.

Qatar gave a stern warning to Hamas’ leadership that it would expel the terror group’s political bureau from its borders if an agreement is not formed soon.

According to the official, the terms of the agreement between Israel and Hamas have not changed significantly.