BICOM

Media reports have suggested that Qatar is mediating talks between Israel and Hamas to potentially free up to three Israeli civilians and return the bodies of two Israeli soldiers in exchange for the release of 60 Palestinian prisoners.

The Arab-Israeli newspaper Kul al-Arab reported yesterday that Qatari representatives have acted as a go-between for the two sides.

Israel is reported to have agreed to release 60 Palestinian security prisoners who were originally freed as part of the 2011 deal which freed kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. They were subsequently re-arrested, most in the wake of the kidnapping of three Israeli teenagers in summer 2014. However, according to the report, Hamas rejected Israel’s demand that if released, the 60 prisoners would be deported to Gaza or Qatar.

YNet reports that Qatar’s ambassador to the Palestinian territories Mohammad al-Amadi is involved in the talks. In the Times of Israel, analyst Avi Issacharoff says that a senior Hamas official confirmed that mediators were in place but that no breakthrough had been achieved.

The same unnamed official is quoted saying: “We will not enter into any discussion about expulsions [to Gaza or Qatar] or no expulsions.”

Under any potential deal, Israel would likely demand that Hamas return the bodies of Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, two Israeli soldiers who were both killed during Operation Protective Edge in 2014. It is likely Israel would also demand the release of three Israeli citizens who wandered across the Gaza border of their own accord. Avera Mengistu, Hisham al-Sayed and Jumaa Abu-Ghanima entered Gaza in 2015 and 2016 and are thought to suffer from mental health issues.

Mengistu’s family told YNet they had received no update on the issue and that until Avera is home, such reports “do not console us”.

Also in YNet, Oron Shaul’s mother Zehava called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “to act to bring back my son Oron from the war. Don’t leave my son with Hamas”.