Turkey cannot be a mediator for a hostage deal in Gaza, according to Israel.
“I am not aware of any Turkish involvement and I don’t think there could be any,” an Israeli source told The Jerusalem Post after KAN News reported that a number of Hamas leaders had left Qatar for Turkey.
Qatar, along with Egypt, were the main mediators for a deal to free the remaining 101 hostages, along with the help of the United States.
Talks have largely been frozen since Hamas executed six of the hostages in late August, including Israeli-American prisoner Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
Donald Trump’s re-election as US president on November 5 has made it more difficult for Biden officials to have the leverage needed to reach a deal, given that the outgoing president is due to leave the White House on January 20.
Last month there was briefly renewed hope that negotiations could resume after the assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Shinwar in Gaza.
Hamas rejected all offers
U.S. officials said last week that Hamas rejected all offers, including a mini-deal designed as a confidence-building measure toward a larger agreement.
Earlier in the day, Israeli Defense Minister Kats held consultations on the hostages with IDF chief Ersi Halevi, Mossad chief Ersi Halevi, the head of the Mossad, the head of the Shin Bet and officials from the Israeli army and the Defense Ministry.
Hamas official Bassem Naim told Sky News at the weekend that “we are ready to release all these captured Israelis” if they made an exchange with Hamas prisoners in Israeli jails.
The last mediation for a deal was in July, but since then there has been “no serious proposal,” Naim said.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken confirmed last week that Qatar also asked the Hamas leadership to withdraw, a move the US sought as a pressure tactic to help force a deal.
Qatar had argued that its power to mediate came from Hamas’ presence in its country. The report that Hamas leaders had gone to Turkey raised the question of whether Ankara could replace Qatar as a mediator.
Early in the Gaza war, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan had proposed to act as mediator. Turkey has played this role for Israel in the past, but the high level of tension between Ankara and Jerusalem makes it difficult for Israel to imagine Turkey in this role.
Herzog has banned an Israeli presidential flight from crossing Turkish airspace
In fact, tensions between Ankara and Tel Aviv increased after Ankara denied Israel’s request that President Isaac Herzog’s aircraft use Turkish airspace for the Israeli president’s flight to Baku, capital of Azerbaijan, to attend the COP29 climate summit.
According to Turkey’s state-run Anadolu news agency, the Israeli authorities have submitted a request for Herzog’s aircraft to cross Turkish airspace en route to the 29th United Nations Climate Change Conference. However, he notes, the Turkish authorities rejected his request.
On Saturday, the Israeli president’s office announced that Herzog had cancelled for “security reasons” his planned trip to Baku to attend COP29.
