Netanyahu Instructs Negotiation Team to Return from Doha for Consultations, and Israel Rejects Hamas' Demands Regarding Prisoners

SadaNews Translation - The Israeli Prime Minister's Office announced this evening, Thursday, that it has been decided to bring back the negotiation team from Qatar to continue consultations in Israel.

The statement from the office, as translated by SadaNews, indicated that the return of the negotiating delegation comes in light of the response provided by Hamas this morning.

The statement added: We appreciate the efforts of the mediators, Qatar and Egypt, and the efforts of the U.S. envoy, Steve Wietkoff, to achieve a breakthrough in the talks.

The Israeli delegation has been in Doha for more than two weeks.

Hamas confirmed early this morning that it has delivered its response to the mediators, which some sources described as positive.

Qatari and Israeli officials were supposed to meet with U.S. envoy Steve Wietkoff in Europe to discuss developments in the situation.

For its part, Axios reported that Hamas demanded that Israel release 200 Palestinians serving life sentences, as well as 2,000 others who were arrested from Gaza after October 7, and Israel informed Wietkoff that it is difficult to accept these demands.