Israeli PM Netanyahu to send team for new talks on hostage release

Families and supporters of Israeli hostages held by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in the Gaza Strip since October 7, protest at Ben Gurion International Airport, near Tel Aviv on July 21, 2024, in an attempt to pressure the Israeli Prime Minister to make a deal to release their loved ones, before his flight on July 22 to US to address Congress. [AFP]

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced Sunday that a negotiating team would be sent this week for new talks on a deal to free hostages held by militants in Gaza.

Netanyahu said the team would leave Thursday -- the day after he gives a speech to the United States Congress -- but he did not say where they would go.

Qatar and Egypt, with US support, have been mediating indirect talks between Israel and Hamas, which holds the hostages and has been at war with Israel for more than nine months.

International mediators have been trying for months to seal an accord between Israel and Hamas. A deal would involve a six-week ceasefire during which some hostages seized by Hamas would be exchanged for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.

"Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today held an in-depth discussion on the issue of the hostages with the negotiation team and senior security officials," said a brief statement released by his office.

Netanyahu, who says he will meet US President Joe Biden in Washington on Tuesday, the day before a speech before Congress, "ordered the negotiating team to leave on Thursday," it added.

Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant indicated that a deal could be reached.

"As a result of our military achievements during this war, the conditions have been created and a limited window of opportunity has opened to establish a framework for the release of the hostages," he said in a statement.

"The defence establishment backs you in your mission to bring about an agreement."

David Barnea, the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, has twice been to Qatar in recent weeks for talks that fuelled the hopes of the families of the hostages that an accord could be close.

Netanyahu has repeatedly vowed to eradicate Hamas as well as bring home all the hostages. Far-right members of his governing coalition oppose a truce deal.

Hamas officials, whose October 7 attack on Israel triggered the war, have accused the prime minister of obstructing prospects for a ceasefire.

Demonstrators in Israel, who have taken to the streets sometimes in the tens of thousands to demand new elections and a hostage-release deal, also accuse Netanyahu of prolonging the war.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Friday that he believed "we're inside the 10-yard line and driving toward the goal line" for a ceasefire deal.