Last chance? US and Qatar raise pressure to reach hostage deal before Israel starts Gaza offensive

The U.S. and Qatar are reportedly raising the pressure on Hamas and Israel to reach a new ceasefire deal before Israel starts its large-scale offensive in Gaza, which could come as soon as U.S. President Donald Trump wraps up his trip to the Gulf.

While no breakthroughs were made on Wednesday amid several high-level meetings and talks, the Times of Israel (TOI) cited Israeli and Arab officials as saying that U.S. pressure would further intensify over the weekend.

On Wednesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he held “a series of lengthy discussions with the U.S. President's Special Envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, and with the negotiating team on the issue of the hostages.”

While Israel continues to adhere to the Witkoff outline, its namesake reportedly has moved away from it, as the White House envoy is advancing other proposals that could lead to an end to the war as well as the disarmament of Hamas.

After visiting Israel for the release of Edan Alexander and pressuring Netanyahu to send the negotiating team to Qatar, Witkoff and several hostage families also traveled to Doha, where they met senior Qatari negotiators, according to Al Jazeera.

The spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, Majed Al-Ansari, confirmed there was “new momentum” in the negotiations and that they focus on reaching a longer ceasefire than the previous one, enabling discussions on ending the war in a final agreement.

Israel has been preparing a large-scale ground offensive and threatened to start it as soon as this weekend, after Trump is set to leave the Middle East.

Meanwhile, the Saudi al-Arabiya reported that the U.S. made clear that it is opposed to “expanding military activity in Gaza” at the moment, as it is working on preparing the new humanitarian aid distribution mechanism.

Responding to a query from Ynet News, the Prime Minister’s Office confirmed that Israel continues to demand a deal based on the Witkoff outline, which is “the only one on the agenda.”

“Within the framework of the outline, Israel will be ready to discuss the conditions for ending the war in accordance with the achievement of all the war goals set by the cabinet,” the PMO said.

An Israeli official also told TOI that Israel hopes that an announcement of the death of Hamas’ military leader Mohammed Sinwar, who was seen as a hardliner, will move the terror group towards compromise.

The Arab official added that if Sinwar’s death is confirmed, mediators expect Israel to delay its offensive to grant Hamas’ remaining leadership time to regroup and, potentially, approve another ceasefire.