Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday gave his greenlight for a delegation to travel to Qatar to resume negotiations for a cease-fire for the hostages' release, deal. The decision came after Netanyahu held what his office described as an intensive discussion with senior members of Israel's security agencies. They will travel to Doha on Thursday.
Sources said in the five-hour-long meeting a decision was made to advance in negotiations on the 29 Hamas comments to the proposed outline. "The negotiating team was given the green light to proceed and will deliver Israel's response. The outline is clear, and the Israeli agreements formulated."
Families of the hostages have been calling on the prime minister not to travel to Washington for his address to a joint session of Congress before a deal to release the hostages is reached. On Sunday some of the families protested outside the Ben-Gurion International Airport where Netanyahu would be boarding a plane to the U.S. on Monday morning.
Security officials have said that the proposed deal was an acceptable one. Defense Minister Yoav Gallant added that without a deal the fate of the remaining Israeli hostages would be sealed.
Officials speaking to Ynet said late last week that Netanyahu and Biden will discuss the negotiations when they meet on Tuesday. They said the two leaders may issue a statement on the matter. "The matter of the hostages will be more on the American side next week. The Prime Minister will be dealing with it directly in Washington," the officials said adding some representatives of the hostage families will be traveling with Netanyahu to D.C.
They said talks were ongoing and the delegation would only have to finalize the details in the deal.
Members of Netanyahu's Likud party threatened to bring down his coalition if he agreed to a deal that would include an IDF withdrawal from Rafah and the Philadelphi corridor and would not see all hostages released at once.