The public spat between Jerusalem and Doha has not prevented US Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns from heading to Europe to hold talks with Israeli, Egyptian, and Qatari officials in the coming days.
Both Reuters and The Washington Post reported on Burn’s meeting as Israel’s war cabinet met on Thursday night to discuss the hostages as Qatar and the relatives of the hostages accused Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of harming the possibility of a potential deal.
Israel has proposed a two-month pause in fighting to allow for the phased release of the 136 hostages still being held following the Hamas-led October 7 attack, The Washington Post said.
Biden administration working on new hostage deal
Burns "has been...involved in helping us with the hostage deal that was in place and trying to help us pursue another one," White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters traveling with US President Joe Biden aboard Air Force One, referring specific questions to the agency.
“The discussions we are having about trying to get a renewed hostage deal are sober and serious,” Kirby said, recalling that US special envoy Brett McGurk was in the region to try and push forward a deal.
The Israeli people want their “loved ones back,” and the US wants its hostages back home, Kirby said, explaining that “there is a lot of energy being put into this across the region with our Israeli counterparts as well as other counterparts including the Qataris.”
The CIA, which has a policy of not disclosing the director's travel, declined to comment on the meeting in Europe next week.
US President Joe Biden dispatched Burns to speak with officials, including Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, comes as Israel's retaliatory military campaign against Hamas continues into its fourth month.
Netanyahu 'stoking tensions' with Qatar
The families' campaign to free the hostages accused Netanyahu or his associates on Thursday of intentionally stoking tensions with Qatar by leaking a tape in which Netanyahu insulted Doha’s efforts to negotiate a deal.
"All conversations that take place in meetings with the Prime Minister are recorded by his office and his associates present at the meeting,” the campaign’s spokesperson Haim Rubinstein said.
“The families participating in the meeting had their phones taken at the entrance,” Rubinstein explained.
“The decision whether to leak information concerning the deal and its intermediaries is the Prime Minister's office,” Rubinstein stated.
He spoke in response to a story on Channel 12, which featured a leaked recording from the closed-door meeting held with the family earlier this week in which Netanyahu could be heard referring to Qatar as a “problematic mediator.”
Rubinstein said that “the fact that the censorship permitted publication of the [tape] is serious and indicates a loss of judgment. The cabinet's duty is to prevent a crisis that would endanger the lives of the captives.”
The decision not to censor the publication of the tape and thus “endanger the lives of the hostages” after they were already abandoned on October 7 is a crime!” he said.
“We demand that the members of the cabinet stop the madness and act responsibly to save the lives of 136 Israelis who were abandoned and kidnapped,” he stated.
Rubinstein charged that “an organized campaign is underway against them with one goal: to delegitimize the hostages who are in the hands of the monsters of Hamas!"
He spoke up after Qatar called Netanyahu’s comments “irresponsible” and said they were harming efforts to mediate a deal to release the captives.
The Prime Minister’s Office said it did “not record, approve or distribute the recordings, and any other claim is false.”
Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich publicly backed Netanyahu by attacking Qatar in a post on X, in which he charged that it was a “country that supports terrorism and finances terrorism.”
Qatar “is Hamas’ patron and is largely responsible for the massacre committed by Hamas of Israeli citizens.
“The West's attitude towards it is hypocritical and based on improper economic interests. The West can and should exert much stronger levers on her and bring about the release of the abductees immediately,” he said.
“One thing is clear,” Smotrich said, “Qatar will not be involved in what happened in Gaza the day after the war.”
He expanded on those comments at a conference by the non-governmental group the Bitchonistim.
Qatar is playing a double game with the West because it encourages, assists, and finances terrorism, Smotrich stated.
“Today, Qatar is the element that is the most delaying the return of the Israeli captives,” Smotrich said. “We could receive the 136 Israeli captives tomorrow morning If Qatar issues an unequivocal ultimatum to Hamas,” he added.
“Qatar has a clear interest in preserving Hamas, ensuring its survival and continued governance in Gaza,” and as such, it has done everything to thwart Israel’s efforts to destroy the terror group, Smotrich stated.
The hostages are a bargaining chip to help Hamas remain in power in Gaza, he said, and the terror group will not relinquish them so easily, he said.
Israel must cut its ties to Qatar, Smotrich stated. It's time to tell the hostages that not all the hostages can be freed, he said. It's a mistake to think that Hamas leader Yehyeh Sinwar "will give up such a valuable asset (the hostage)" because by holding on to them, he weakens Israeli society and tears it apart, Smotrich said..
US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Petal said that Qatar remains a key US ally.
The animosity between Israel and Qatar, which do not have diplomatic relations, comes amid increased tensions between Israel and its Middle East ally Egypt, with whom it has had formal relations since 1979.
At issue in particular has been Israel’s insistence that to prevent arms smuggling into Gaza, it must control a buffer zone in the enclave by the Egyptian border, known as the Philadelphi corridor.
Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Wednesday accused Israel of holding up aid deliveries for the Gaza Strip as a pressure tactic to push Hamas to free the hostages.
"This is a form of pressure on the Gaza Strip and its people over the conflict and the release of hostages. They are using this as a pressure tool on the people of the Strip,” Sisi said in comments to mark Egypt's national police day.
Israel denied the charge. "Our inspection process is efficient, with us scaling up our capacities to maximize inspection capabilities," COGAT, an Israeli Defence Ministry agency that coordinates aid deliveries with the United Nations and humanitarian groups, said on social media platform X on Wednesday.
"There is no limit to the amount of aid that can enter Gaza.”
Earlier this week, government spokesperson Eylon Levy said that trucks entering Gaza had the capacity to carry more than what the international community had sent for Gaza.