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Netanyahu Hints at New Hamas Talks After Hostage Deaths
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during a press conference with Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz in the Kirya military base in Tel Aviv, Israel, Oct. 28, 2023. Photo: ABIR SULTAN POOL/Pool via REUTERS
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appeared to confirm on Saturday that new Qatar-mediated negotiations were underway to recover hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, after a source said Israel’s lead negotiator met Qatar’s prime minister.
Netanyahu sidestepped a question at a news conference about a meeting on Friday in Europe between his lead negotiator, Mossad head David Barnea, and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. However, he confirmed he had given instructions to the negotiating team.
“We have serious criticisms of Qatar, about which I suppose you will hear in due course, but right now we are trying to complete the recovery of our hostages,” he said, alluding to the gas-rich Gulf state’s ties to Hamas and Israel’s arch-foe Iran.
News of a new round of negotiations, first reported by Axios, came after Israel’s military disclosed that troops had accidentally killed three hostages who approached them with a white flag after having escaped their captors in Gaza on Friday.
Netanyahu said he would not divulge details of the talks.
“There is one mistake that we can make, which is to relay our calculations to Hamas, to the world,” he said. “We shall not be getting into the details of the negotiations.”
The Gaza war, triggered by a shock Hamas killing and kidnapping spree in south Israel on Oct. 7, has shaken regional and world powers as the Palestinian civilian toll spirals.
While pledging to destroy Hamas, Israel has also sought to recover hostages held by the Iranian-backed Islamist group.
Netanyahu vowed to maintain intense military pressure on Hamas in Gaza.
“The instruction I am giving the negotiating team is predicated on this pressure, without which we have nothing,” he said.
Mossad chief Barnea met Al Thani in Europe on Friday, a key mediator in the conflict in Gaza, a source told Reuters, while sources from Egypt suggested Israel appeared to be more open to a new deal with Hamas.
‘GET THE HOSTAGES BACK ALIVE’
Qatar and Egypt were mediators between Israel and Hamas in a deal that led to a week long truce at the end of November during which Hamas released more than 100 women, children and foreigners it was holding in exchange for 240 Palestinian women and teenagers freed from Israeli jails.
Axios said the Friday meeting was the first between Barnea and Al Thani since the November truce. The source who spoke to Reuters said Barnea returned to Israel early on Saturday to brief Netanyahu.
Two Egyptian security sources said Israeli officials appeared more willing, in calls with mediators, to strike a fresh deal for a Gaza ceasefire and release of Palestinian prisoners in exchange for the recovery of hostages.
The Egyptian sources said Israeli officials appeared to have changed their mind on some points that they had previously refused, but did not go into further detail.
There was no immediate response from Netanyahu government spokespeople to the Egyptian assessment.
Israel believes that another 20 or more of the 130 hostages still held in Gaza are dead. Families of the hostages held a rally on Saturday, demanding that Israel consider releasing senior Palestinian terrorists from jail in any new swap deal.
“The Israeli government needs to be active. They need to put an offer on the table, including prisoners with blood on their hands, and put the best offer on the table to get the hostages back alive,” said Ruby Chen, father of 19-year-old hostage Itay.
“We don’t want them back in bags.”
Hamas exiled leader Osama Hamdan said it would only release soldiers held captive in Gaza “until the entire aggression is stopped.” He said that would have to happen through a negotiated deal “according to the conditions set by the the resistance.”
In an apparent effort to sway Israeli public opinion, Hamas also released a video showing slain hostages and ending with the Hebrew warning: “Time is running out.”
The post Netanyahu Hints at New Hamas Talks After Hostage Deaths first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.