Israel and Hamas continued indirect talks on a cease-fire on Wednesday, but the gap between the sides remained wide, especially on two issues: the length of any pause in fighting, and the fate of Hamas leaders in Gaza, according to officials briefed on the talks.
How are the negotiations going?
A weeklong truce in November allowed the release of more than 100 of the hostages abducted in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack on Israel; 240 Palestinian prisoners were released as part of that deal. Since then, both sides have staked out seemingly intractable positions for another such agreement.
The talks have advanced in fits and starts, with the leader of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency meeting Qatari officials in both Qatar and Europe. Many of Hamas’s political leaders are based in Qatar. Egypt, which borders the Gaza Strip, has also played a key role.
The mediators have put forward multiple plans over the past several weeks, thus far with little evident progress. The duration for a proposed cease-fire have ranged from weeks to months. Reports of some of the proposals leaked to the press prompted controversy in Israel, where right-wing politicians said they would oppose plans they said would end the war prematurely.
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