Paris hostage talks commence, IDF, Hezbollah trade blows in North

PARIS – Hostage release talks between Israeli, American, Qatari, and Egyptian officials are underway in Paris.

Mossad Chief David Barnea, Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, and Hostage Affairs Coordinator Nitzan Alon, arrived earlier in the day and are currently meeting with CIA Chief Wiliam Burns, Egyptian Intelligence Head Abbas Kamel, and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed al-Thani at an undisclosed location.

According to some reports, Barnea is holding separate talks with Burns, Kamel, and al-Thani. A larger meeting should include also the other members of the delegations who arrived in Paris.

The Israeli delegation will return either Friday night or stay in Paris on Saturday, depending on the progress in the talks.

Obstacles in the current talks

For the moment, two main obstacles stand in the way of the new outline.

Families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas protest calling for the government to find a solution to have the hostages released, outside Hakirya Base in Tel Aviv, February 22, 2024. (credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/FLASH90)

Israel and Hamas have repeatedly locked heads over the number of Palestinian security prisoners to be released for each hostage liberated.

In the November deal, Israel released three Palestinian prisoners for each hostage released, but the numbers now discussed are much higher. Also, for the last deal, the IDF suspended its military operations, including in the air, but did not withdraw its forces.

The second main obstacle in the talks is the condition set by Hamas that the IDF to pull out from the Gaza Strip; beginning with IDF troops stationed in the north.

France's involvement in the region

The meeting in Paris comes against the backdrop of increased contact between France and Middle East countries, primarily Qatar.

Qatari Defense Minister Khalid bin Mohammad Al Attiyah was in Paris on Thursday, meeting with French Defense Minister Sebastien Lecornu. As a reminder, France was part of the initiative to deliver medicines to hostages held in Gaza. Qatar had issued earlier this week a statement saying the medicines have been delivered, but the French foreign ministry said it was not part to the delivery process in Gaza and had no further information on that. French authorities declined to say whether the issue was discussed between the two defense ministers.

Also, according to i24, Sheikh Tamim ibn Hamad al-Thani, leader of Qatar, is expected in Paris for a state visit next week. Jordanian King Abdullah was in Paris on Feb. 15, after he visited the United States, and met with French President Macron at the Elysee Palace.

The political-security cabinet decided Thursday night to increase the amount that Israel will deduct from the Palestinian Authority's tax funds in the coming year. The decision to increase the amount to NIS 21 million comes with the background of the payments that the authority transfers to the families of terrorists, according to three sources who participated in the cabinet meeting.

An Israeli senior official said that following the decision, Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich will lift the freeze on all funds that Israel is supposed to transfer to the Palestinian Authority and that have not been offset or frozen - including the Palestinian tax funds collected during the month of January - and will also approve the transfer of some of the Palestinian tax funds that were offset to custody in Norway.

However, increasing the amount of the offset will further exacerbate the economic crisis in the Palestinian Authority, which is having great difficulty paying salaries and is in danger of bankruptcy and collapse. The security system warns that the economic crisis in the PA may lead to a security escalation in the West Bank as well.

Transferring funds to families of terrorists

During Thursday's cabinet meeting, the Defense Ministry presented the data regarding the funds that the Palestinian Authority transferred to the families of terrorists during the year 2023. According to Israeli law, the government is obligated to deduct the relative part of this amount from the amount of tax money that it transfers to the Palestinian Authority every month.

Betzalel Smotrich (credit: REUTERS)

Last week, when the issue was supposed to be discussed in the cabinet for the first time, Smotrich claimed that the Defense Ministry's figures are lower than the amount that the Authority actually transfers to the families of terrorists. Smotrich announced that he would not transfer to the Palestinian Authority the tax money that Israel collected for it throughout January.

Smotrich not only threatened but delayed the transfer of funds for more than three weeks - something that further exacerbated the economic crisis in the Palestinian Authority.

Smotrich's pressure worked. At the cabinet meeting yesterday, the Defense Ministry announced that following Smotrich's claims, the amount of the offset was updated from NIS 610 million to NIS 631 million. The amount will be offset in the coming year every month in 12 installments of approximately NIS 52 million. 

The IDF said on Friday that Israel Air Force fighter jets struck Hezbollah terrorist infrastructure in southern Lebanon. 

IAF jets struck a post in the Labbouneh area, in addition to a military building in the Kfarkela area, where Hezbollah terrorists operated.

On Thursday night, fighter jets struck Hezbollah targets in Blida.

National Unity MK Benny Gantz promised residents of Israel's north that fighting would continue to allow them to return home, adding that there are positive signs indicating that Hezbollah is moving further from the border with Israel.

Smoke rises during an exchange of fire between the IDF and terrorists from the Hezbollah organization on the border between Israel and Lebanon, November 11, 2023 (credit: Ayal Margolin/Flash90)

Heating up on Israel's northern border

The IDF is preparing for scenarios in which the operation needs to be extended, Gantz added.

Hezbollah-affiliated Al Mayadeen reported that the IAF fired three rockets into Lebanon, with Hezbollah responding with rocket fire in the Western Galilee on Friday afternoon.

The IDF responded with heavy fire.

The US military said on Friday it had destroyed Houthi drones and anti-ship cruise missiles in Yemen and the Red Sea after determining they presented an imminent threat to merchant vessels and US Navy ships.

The strikes hit four drones and two cruise missiles that were prepared to launch from Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen toward the Red Sea, the military's Central Command said. The military also shot down three Houthi one-way attack drones near commercial ships operating in the Red Sea, it said.

The strikes were conducted on Thursday and Friday, the Central Command said. There was no damage to any ships, it added.

The United Nations human rights chief said on Friday that perpetrators of gross human rights violations in the conflict between Israel and Hamas must be held accountable.

"The entrenched impunity that OHCHR (the UN rights agency) has reported on for many years cannot persist," High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Turk said in a report on the situation in Gaza and in the West Bank.

He said that this impunity had contributed to violations that could amount to international crimes.

Turk urged all parties to the conflict to "put an end to impunity and conduct prompt, independent, impartial, thorough, effective and transparent investigations" into alleged crimes under international law.

He also called on them to implement a ceasefire on human rights and humanitarian grounds, to ensure full respect for international law, and to ensure accountability for violations and abuses.

Maglan soldiers continued fighting in western Khan Yunis and, in one encounter, engaged in close-quarters combat after a terrorist threw a grenade at them, the IDF stated on Friday. The terrorist was subsequently eliminated.

The Khan Yunis encounters led Israeli troops to strike targets by air and sniper fire in addition to face-to-face ground missions, finding terrorists in hiding places. 

Soldiers uncovered terrorist infrastructure within the area, finding weapons such as an AK-47 in a closet, explosives, cartridges, activation devices for explosives, and explosive sets.

Drone uncovers terrorist inside building

Troops used a drone to identify suspected terrorists hiding in a building, locating him before he began shooting at the drone, managing to down the aircraft.

The terrorist subsequently threw a grenade at the troops, after which the soldiers opened fire on the terrorist, neutralizing him. The troops then conducted a search inside the structure, uncovering an assortment of weapons, the IDF added.

An additional four terrorists, armed with RPGs and AK-47s, were eliminated in a dense area of western Khan Yunis.

Hamas wrapped up ceasefire talks in Cairo and is now waiting to see what mediators bring back from weekend talks with Israel, an official from the terrorist group said on Friday, in what appears to be the most serious push for weeks to halt the fighting.

Mediators have ramped up efforts to secure a ceasefire in Gaza, in the hope of heading off an Israeli assault on the Gaza city of Rafah where more than a million displaced people are sheltering at the southern edge of the enclave.

Israel says it will attack the city if no truce agreement is reached soon. Washington has called on its close ally not to do so, warning of vast civilian casualties if an assault on the city goes ahead.

Hamas meets with international leaders

Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh met Egyptian mediators in Cairo to discuss a truce this past week on his first visit since December. Israel is now expected to participate in talks this weekend in Paris with US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators.

Two Egyptian security sources confirmed that Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel would head on Friday to Paris for the talks with the Israelis, after wrapping up talks with Hamas chief Haniyeh on Thursday. Israel has not publicly commented on the Paris talks.

BRANDENBURG GATE: Rally to mark the birthday of Kfir Bibas, the youngest Israeli hostage, in Berlin. (credit: NOAM BEDEIN)

The Hamas official, who asked not to be identified, said the terrorist group did not offer any new proposal at the talks with the Egyptians, but was waiting to see what the mediators brought back from their upcoming talks with the Israelis.

"We discussed our proposal with them (the Egyptians) and we are going to wait until they return from Paris," the Hamas official said.

The last time similar talks were held in Paris, at the start of February, they produced an outline for the first extended ceasefire of the war, approved by Israel and the United States. Hamas responded with a counterproposal, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu then rejected as "delusional."

Hamas, which is still believed to be holding more than 100 hostages seized in the Oct. 7 attack on Israel that precipitated the war, says it will free them only as part of a truce that ends with an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza. Israel says it will not pull out until Hamas is eradicated.

Late on Thursday, Netanyahu presented his security cabinet with an official plan for Gaza once the fighting stops. He emphasized that Israel expects to maintain security control over the enclave after destroying Hamas, and also sees no role for there for the Palestinian Authority (PA) based in the West Bank.

Washington favors a role for a reformed PA.

Two Palestinian officials familiar with the negotiations said Hamas has not changed its stance in the latest push to reach a deal, and still demands that a truce end with an Israeli pullout.

PARIS – The Israeli delegation for the talks on jump-starting a hostage release deal has arrived in Paris on board a private business plane. The meeting should take place Friday afternoon, at a non-disclosed venue in the French capital.

Headed by Mossad chief David Barnea and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, the Israeli delegation is expected to meet with CIA Chief William Burns, Egyptian Intelligence Head Abbas Kamel, and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed al-Thani, a similar meeting to the one that took place in Paris end of January. At the time, the parties agreed on an outline for a hostage-release deal, but Hamas put up a long set of conditions, considered unacceptable to Israel, and viewed as Sinwar’s way of killing the deal.

Pressure applied by Washington, Cairo, and Doha since had changed the situation, and Jerusalem now estimates there is some chance of a breakthrough in the negotiations for a deal. The main obstacle seems to be the key of Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for the liberation of the hostages. In the November hostage release deal, Hamas had agreed to release one hostage for every three Palestinian prisoners set free from jail, but that key no longer is considered relevant.

Families of Israelis held hostage by Hamas protest calling for the government to find a solution to have the hostages released, outside Hakirya Base in Tel Aviv, February 22, 2024. (credit: AVSHALOM SASSONI/FLASH90)

How involved had France been with the negotiations?

The French foreign ministry refused to say to what extent Paris was involved in the talks, or if any French official was expected to be present at the quadruplet meeting.

Earlier this week, the Israeli press published that France confirmed the delivery of medicines to 45 hostages in Gaza, but the French foreign ministry told the Jerusalem Post this was not correct. France only acknowledged the statement issued by Qatar on the delivery, estimating that Doha’s information is probably accurate, said the ministry, stressing that France had no additional information to confirm the delivery of the medicines.

"Our entire approach to the issue of the Temple Mount is incorrect," argued Dr. Mordechai Kedar, an Israeli scholar of Arab culture and a lecturer at Bar-Ilan University, in a conversation with Prof. Aryeh Eldad and Ron Koffman on 103FM on Friday.

Kedar recently expressed an opinion calling to allow freedom of access for Muslims to the Temple Mount and al-Aqsa Mosque during Ramadan and opposing a reported decision by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir to restrict Israeli Arabs' access to the area during Ramadan based on age.

Israel intends to advance plans for 3,000 new settler homes in the aftermath of the West Bank terror attack next to a checkpoint heading into Jerusalem, in which one man was killed, and another eight were injured.

“Let every terrorist plotting to harm us know that any raising of a hand against Israeli citizens will be met with a blow of death and destruction and the deepening of our eternal grip on the entire Land of Israel,” Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stated.

He was one of a number of ministers who, together with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, decided on the plan that is likely only to increase the tension between Israel and its Western allies, including the United States.