Right here’s how the negotiations involving Israel, Hamas, Qatar, the US and Egypt unfolded.
Shortly after the Hamas group took captives throughout their lethal assault on southern Israel on October 7, the federal government of Qatar contacted the White Home with a request: Type a small staff of advisers to assist get the captives freed.
That effort, which started within the days after the captives had been taken, lastly bore fruit with the announcement of a truce mediated by Qatar and Egypt and agreed by Israel, Hamas and america.
Two officers concerned within the effort gave the Reuters information company intensive particulars on what led to the settlement.
Right here is the way it unfolded:
October 7
- On October 7, Hamas fired a huge barrage of rockets into southern Israel, with sirens heard as distant as Tel Aviv and Beersheba.
- Because the assault was unfolding later within the day, Israeli media reported armed males seized captives in Ofakim.
- Palestinian Islamic Jihad mentioned it was holding Israeli troopers, and Hamas social media accounts confirmed footage showing to point out captives being taken into Gaza.
- One video confirmed three younger males in vests, shorts and flip-flops being marched by means of a safety set up with Hebrew writing on the wall. Different movies confirmed feminine captives and Israeli troopers being dragged from a army car.
- Israel responded by beginning a weeks-long bombardment on the Gaza Strip.
Diplomatic responses to the October 7 assault
- Qatar, a detailed US ally, approached the White Home shortly after October 7 with delicate info relating to the captives and the potential for his or her launch, officers advised Reuters.
- The Qataris requested {that a} small staff, or a “cell”, be established to work on the difficulty privately with the Israelis.
- The secretive effort included tense private diplomatic engagement by US President Joe Biden, who held quite a few pressing conversations with the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu within the weeks main as much as the deal.
- Sullivan directed McGurk and one other Nationwide Safety Council official, Josh Geltzer, to ascertain the staff. This was completed with out telling different related US businesses as a result of Qatar and Israel demanded excessive secrecy with just a few individuals to be within the know, the officers mentioned.
- Based on Reuters experiences, US Center East envoy Brett McGurk held day by day morning calls with the prime minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani. He reported again to nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan, and Biden was briefed day by day on the method.
October 13
- Biden obtained an upfront take a look at what the victims of the Hamas assault endured when he held an emotional, prolonged assembly with the households of Individuals who had been both being held captive or had been unaccounted for.
- “They’re going through agony not knowing what the status of their sons, daughters, husbands, wives, children are,” he mentioned. “You know, it’s gut-wrenching. I assured them of my personal commitment to do everything possible, everything possible” to make sure the Individuals’ return.
October 18
- Biden travelled to Tel Aviv for talks with Netanyahu. The official advised Reuters that securing the discharge of captives was a central focus of his discussions with Netanyahu and his warfare cupboard, as was humanitarian help.
October 20
- Qatari and Egyptian mediation results in the discharge of two aged Israeli ladies. Yokheved Lifshitz and Nurit Yitzhak, also called Nurit Cooper, had been launched on “humanitarian” grounds, in response to Hamas.
- The 85-year-old Lifshitz mentioned at a information convention on Tuesday that she was damage through the abduction however was handled properly throughout captivity. Each ladies’s husbands stay captive.
October 23
- 5 days later, the White Home staff’s work helped yield the discharge of two American captives, Natalie Raanan, 17, and her mom, Judith, 59.
- From exterior his West Wing workplace, Sullivan, the US Center East envoy McGurk, and Sullivan’s deputy Jon Finer tracked in actual time the captives’ tough, multi-hour journey out of Gaza.
- They were transferred to Egypt by means of the Rafah crossing with the assistance of the Worldwide Committee of the Pink Cross (ICRC). They met with Israeli safety forces in Egypt and had been transferred to a army base in Israel to be reunited with their household.
- The return of the 2 Individuals proved it was doable to realize freedom for captives and gave Biden confidence that Qatar may mediate the discharge of extra individuals, officers mentioned.
- Now, an intensified course of began to get extra captives out. CIA Director Invoice Burns started talking repeatedly with Mossad Director David Barnea.
📢 We facilitated the discharge of two extra hostages, transporting them out of #Gaza this night.
Our position as a impartial middleman makes this work doable & we’re able to facilitate any future launch.
We hope that they are going to quickly be again with their family members.
— ICRC (@ICRC) October 23, 2023
October 24
- Israel was poised to launch a ground offensive in Gaza, the US aspect obtained phrase that Hamas had agreed to the parameters of a deal to launch ladies and kids, which might imply a pause and a delay within the floor invasion.
- US officers debated with the Israelis whether or not the bottom offensive must be delayed.
- The Israelis argued that phrases weren’t agency sufficient to delay since there was no proof of life for the captives. Hamas claimed they may not decide who was being held till a pause in combating started.
- The US and Israeli governments seen the Hamas place as disingenuous. An unnamed official advised Reuters that Israel’s invasion plan was tailored to help a pause if a deal got here collectively.
- Israel steps up its floor assault on Gaza three days later, on October 27.
October 30
- Based on the Israeli army, a fifth particular person, a soldier, Non-public Ori Megidish, was rescued on October 30 throughout a floor raid inside Gaza.
- Abu Obeida mentioned the soldier was not held by the Qassam Brigades, and it was doable she was held by civilians or particular person events in Gaza.
‘Pulling teeth’
- Over the following three weeks, Biden engaged in detailed talks as proposals a couple of potential captive launch had been traded backwards and forwards. Calls for had been made that Hamas produce the lists of captives it was holding, their figuring out info, and ensures of launch.
- The method was lengthy and generally appeared to maneuver painfully gradual – communication was tough, and messages needed to be handed from Doha or Cairo into Gaza and again earlier than being relayed to Israel and the US, in response to officers.
- “Every step of this is like pulling teeth,” one official mentioned on the time, in response to a report by CNN.
- Biden held a beforehand undisclosed cellphone name with the Qatari prime minister when the phasing of releases started to take form, the official advised Reuters.
- Beneath the settlement that was taking form, ladies and kids captives could be freed in a primary section, along with a commensurate launch of Palestinian prisoners from the Israelis.
- The Israelis insisted Hamas guarantee all ladies and kids come out on this section. The US aspect agreed and demanded by means of Qatar a proof of life or figuring out info for ladies and kids held by Hamas.
- Hamas mentioned it may assure 50 within the first section however refused to provide an in depth listing of the captives.
November 9
- CIA director Burns met in Doha with the Qatari chief and Mossad’s Barnea to undergo the texts of the rising association.
- The important thing impediment at that time was that Hamas had not clearly recognized who it was holding.
- Three days later, Biden referred to as the Emir of Qatar Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and demanded to know the names or clear figuring out info for the 50 captives, together with ages, gender and nationalities.
- With out the data, the official advised Reuters, there was no foundation to maneuver ahead.
- Shortly after Biden’s name, Hamas produced particulars for the 50 captives it mentioned it could launch within the first section of any deal.
November 14
- Based on Reuters, Biden referred to as Netanyahu and urged him to take the deal. Netanyahu agreed.
- McGurk noticed Netanyahu that very same day in Israel. Strolling out of a gathering, Netanyahu grabbed McGurk’s arm and mentioned that “we need this deal” and urged Biden to name the emir of Qatar on the ultimate phrases, one of many officers mentioned.
- Talks stalled as communications went darkish in Gaza.
- Once they resumed, Biden was in San Francisco attending an Asia-Pacific summit. He referred to as the emir of Qatar and labored with him to use strain on Israel and Hamas to shut the deal, officers mentioned.
November 18
- US Center East envoy McGurk met in Doha with the Qatari prime minister. CIA director Burns was dialled in after he spoke with Mossad. The assembly recognized the final remaining gaps towards a deal.
- The settlement was now structured for ladies and kids to be freed within the first section however with an expectation for future releases and the goal to carry all captives dwelling to their households.
November 19
- In Cairo, McGurk met with Egypt intelligence chief Abbas Kamel within the morning. Phrase got here from Hamas leaders in Gaza that they’d accepted practically all of the agreements labored out the day earlier than in Doha.
- Just one subject remained – the variety of captives to be launched within the first section and the last word construction of the deal to incentivise releases past the 50 recognized ladies and kids, the officers mentioned.
- A flurry of further conferences ensued, and the deal lastly got here collectively.
November 22
- On November 22, Israel and Hamas agreed to a temporary pause within the warfare that might allow the discharge of the captives.
- Earlier than the assembly to debate the deal, Netanyahu thanked Biden for his work to incorporate extra captives and fewer concessions within the settlement.
- “It took significant US pressure to get this deal done, which really tells you what it’s going to take in terms of US pressure to get something more permanent in place if not a transition to Palestinian self-rule of some kind,” James Dorsey, an honorary fellow on the Nationwide College of Singapore’s Center East Institute, advised Al Jazeera.
