It seems that Israel has expressed interest in another possible ceasefire.
According to recent reports, Israeli officials are continuing to meet with the prime minister of Qatar to discuss a potential new deal to stop fighting and secure the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that hostage deal discussions were taking place among Qatar, Egypt, and Israel.
The director of Israel’s Mossad spy agency met with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani over the weekend to begin the discussion. It appears that the deal will now include CIA chief Bill Burns.
The news follows an unfortunate tragedy which befell the nation over the weekend. The Israeli Defense Forces confirmed that its troops accidentally killed three of the captured hostages who had escaped captivity.
An Israeli military official said on Saturday that one Israeli soldier saw the hostages running shirtless waving a makeshift white flag. The official said the soldier felt “threatened” by their presence and opened fire, believing they were terrorists before other nearby soldiers began doing the same.
Unsurprisingly, Israelis were distraught to hear the news. Protests erupted in Tel Aviv criticizing the government and calling for the release of all captive hostages. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the deaths “broke the whole nation’s heart” but urged the country to remain focused on destroying Hamas.
In other news on the ground, Israel noted that aid convoys had entered Gaza on Sunday. Trucks filled with humanitarian aid passed through the Kerem Shalom crossing between Israel and Gaza for the first time since the war began on Oct. 7.
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin is back in the Middle East today for talks with Israeli and Qatari officials on the future of Israel’s war on Hamas. Like previous meetings between Israel and the US, it is expected that Austin will push our Middle Eastern ally to switch into a less aggressive phase of the war out of concern for civilian casualties.