Israel may send negotiators to Doha this week for meetings on a comprehensive agreement for the release of hostages held by Hamas and a ceasefire in Gaza, according to an Israeli television report on Tuesday, as Arab states and the US also push for a final deal to end the 22-month war.

The efforts by Israel, the United States and a few Middle Eastern countries signaled that officials have not given up on the prospect of an agreement despite a recent breakdown in negotiations over a temporary ceasefire last month. After the talks collapsed, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government approved a plan to conquer Gaza City beginning in October, with the operation expected to continue for months.

But that plan also appears to have created renewed urgency — as well as a two-month window — for renewed talks. Those involved have reportedly acknowledged that the gaps between Israel and Hamas remain vast, but efforts in recent days demonstrate that negotiations could restart.

The comprehensive deal Israeli negotiators are eyeing would include the release of all hostages, an end to the war, a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip and arrangements for the enclave’s post-war governance, Channel 12 news reported, citing two sources aware of the matter.

Meanwhile, Egyptian mediators held an opening round of talks with Hamas in Cairo on Tuesday aimed at reviving hostage negotiations, an Arab diplomat confirmed to The Times of Israel, adding that talks will continue on Wednesday.

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The discussions were largely preliminary and did not delve into specific details of the framework that the sides will try to advance.

Hamas’s Khalil al-Hayya during an interview in Istanbul, April 24, 2024. (AP/ Khalil Hamra, File)

Hamas said senior leader Khalil al-Hayya arrived in Cairo for the talks. Hamas official Taher Nunu said in a statement that the terror group’s meetings with Egyptian officials would focus on ways to stop the war, deliver aid, and “end the suffering of our people in Gaza.”

The trip by al-Hayya, who is Hamas’s chief negotiator, comes after comments he made earlier this month implicating Cairo in the ongoing Gaza humanitarian crisis, which infuriated the Egyptians.

Despite assertions from Netanyahu that Israel is no longer interested in a partial deal, the Arab diplomat said that a similar framework to the one previously discussed will likely be what the mediators try to advance — a temporary truce that subsequently turns into a permanent ceasefire once the sides agree on the exact terms.

The diplomat said that the mediators would like to broker a comprehensive deal that immediately ends the war and secures the release of all 50 of the remaining hostages at once, but that will be more difficult to do in a short time period, as Israel is demanding that Hamas completely surrender by giving up its control of Gaza along with its weapons.

Families of the hostages march through Tel Aviv at a Shift 101 protest on August 5, 2025. (Shani Tamim/Shift 101)

The ultimately unsuccessful negotiations that ended in July focused on a 60-day ceasefire that would have seen the release of about half of the 50 hostages Hamas is holding — at least 20 of whom are thought to be alive.

“We are working very hard now in full cooperation with the Qataris and Americans,” Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told reporters during a press conference in Cairo. “The main objective is to go back to the original proposal — to have a ceasefire for 60 days, with the release of some hostages and some Palestinian detainees, and the flow of humanitarian and medical assistance to Gaza without restrictions, without conditions.”

“We are talking with Hamas, with the Israelis and pushing for a deal” based on a recent US plan, Abdelatty said.

But in an interview on Tuesday with the i24 television channel, Netanyahu said the idea of a partial hostage release deal is “behind us.”

“We’ve made all kinds of attempts,” he said, without elaborating. “We went a long way. It became clear to us that they’re just leading us astray.”

“In any case, a lot of hostages, both living and dead, will remain in their hands,” he said, appearing to refer to the proposal under discussion last month. “I want everyone — both the living and the fallen.”

“That’s what we are therefore going for. I’m not saying that I’m not willing to discuss it. I want to return everyone within a framework that ends the war, but an end to the war on our terms,” Netanyahu added.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as seen during an interview with the i24 television channel, aired on August 12, 2025. (Screenshot, i24)

Israel and the US blamed Hamas for the breakdown in talks last month. In an interview this week with British pundit Piers Morgan, US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee echoed Netanyahu in saying that Israel put repeated offers on the table and that Hamas was “not interested in that,” leading the US and Israel to pull out of negotiations.

And on Monday, Axios reported that in a brief phone interview, “the president seemed to agree with [Netanyahu’s] argument that more military pressure on Hamas is required.”

Arab diplomats from mediating countries have told The Times of Israel that while Hamas did raise new demands in the proposal that led the US and Israel to recall their negotiating teams, Jerusalem did the same thing at earlier stages in the negotiation process and that the gaps between the sides were still bridgeable.

Huckabee said that since Israel began moving to expanding its military operations, Hamas has expressed interest in restarting negotiations. “One has to wonder, [is Hamas] really serious about ending this?”

Protestors block a road during an anti-government rally calling for action to secure the release of Israeli hostages held captive since the October 7, 2023, Hamas-led attack in Tel Aviv on August 12, 2025. (Jack GUEZ / AFP)

Hamas took 251 hostages in its October 7, 2023, onslaught that started the war. Of the 50 it is holding now, 49 are from that attack. It is also holding the body of a soldier killed in 2014.

Hamas and Israel have been indirectly negotiating on and off since shortly after October 7. A weeklong ceasefire in November 2023 led to the release of 105 hostages, while 38, mostly living, were released in a ceasefire that lasted from January to March of this year. In exchange, Israel has freed some 2,000 jailed Palestinian terrorists, security prisoners, and Gazan terror suspects detained during the war.

Polls show that most Israelis support a deal to end the war in exchange for the release of all the hostages. On Tuesday, some 200 retired and reserve Israeli Air Force pilots rallied outside the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv this evening to protest the cabinet’s recent decision to capture Gaza City, urging an immediate hostage deal.

A Palestinian source familiar with the negotiations earlier told AFP that a final deal may be in the offing.

The source said “mediators are working to formulate a new comprehensive ceasefire agreement proposal” that would include the release of all remaining hostages “in one batch.”