Israel warns that hostage deal impossible unless Hamas changes stance

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Israel has warned that negotiations on a deal to secure the release of hostages held in Gaza would not advance until Hamas changed its position, in a sign that talks brokered by the US, Qatar and Egypt have struggled to make any breakthrough.

In a statement released a day after Israeli spy chiefs held talks with CIA director Bill Burns in Cairo, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated that he would not give in “to Hamas’s delusional demands”.

“Israel did not receive in Cairo any new proposal of Hamas on the release of our hostages,” the prime minister’s office said. “A change in Hamas’s positions will allow the negotiations to advance.”

The Israeli delegation as well as the US and Qatari officials, left the Egyptian capital after the talks on Tuesday, a person briefed on the discussions said.

Mediators continued to hold discussions with Hamas’s political leaders in Qatar, the person said.

The mediators, which included Qatar’s prime minister and senior Egyptian officials, had hoped the Cairo talks would revive discussions on a deal to halt the war in Gaza and secure the release of the remaining hostages held by Hamas.

The negotiations took place a week after Netanyahu rejected Hamas’s demands for an agreement and vowed to press on for “total victory”.

The Israeli prime minister was referring to Hamas’s response to a framework agreement brokered after David Barnea, chief of the spy agency Mossad, met Burns from the CIA and the other mediators in Paris last month that called for an initial six-week pause in hostilities for a hostage-prisoner swap.

The militant group responded by proposing a four-and-a-half month ceasefire, during which it would release the remaining hostages in phases in return for Israel freeing 1,500 Palestinian prisoners, including 500 who are serving life sentences. Hamas also…