In an article published on November 22, The Times of Israel reveals behind-the-scenes talks that led to a deal between Israel and Hamas on exchanging prisoners. It wrote: Netanyahu is pressuring Joe Biden to implement this agreement by consulting with the Emir of Qatar because Netanyahu needed this agreement.

Qatar had reached out to the US and Israel shortly after Hamas’s October 7 onslaught, which killed roughly 1,200 people in southern Israel, and offered to help secure the release of the roughly 240 hostages who had been abducted. Doha proposed that a multilateral “cell” be established with representatives from Qatar, the US and Israel in order to negotiate “very secretly” toward an agreement, a U.S. administration official said.

The official said CIA chief William Burns, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, White House Mideast czar Brett McGurk and Biden’s assistant Josh Geltzer played an essential role on the U.S. side.
Mossad chief David Barnea led the talks on the Israeli side with assistance from Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer and National Security Council chairman Tzachi Hanegbi.

On October 25, McGurk held a call with the Qatari prime minister in which the two, for the first time, discussed the idea of a phased release of abducted women and children in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. McGurk then briefed Biden on the call, and the president asked to speak directly with the Qatari foreign minister to push the deal forward.

On October 27, Israel launched its ground incursion in what Qatari officials publicly said significantly complicated the negotiations.

After nearly two weeks with little progress, Burns met in Doha with the Qatari premier and Barnea to discuss an initial outline for a deal, which still had some gaping holes as Hamas had yet to identify the hostages it was holding. Unsatisfied with the pace of the talks, Biden called Qatar’s Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani for the first time since the outbreak of the war and “made very clear that where we were was not enough,” the administration official said.

During a November 14 phone call between Biden and Netanyahu — one of 13 held since the war’s outbreak — “it was understood that we could move forward with this deal,” the administration official said, adding that Netanyahu offered his initial backing before Israel’s war cabinet voted in support of it the next day.

McGurk met with Netanyahu in Israel the next day, and the premier asked that Biden again press the Qatari emir to help nail down final terms for the deal. “We need this deal,” Netanyahu told McGurk as the two wrapped up their meeting, according to a second U.S. official.