Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken said on Thursday that U.S. negotiators will return to Qatar “in the coming days” in an effort to revive cease-fire negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
But Mr. Blinken and Qatar’s prime minister and foreign minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, signaled little reason to believe that Hamas was more willing to engage in talks since Israel killed its leader, Yahya Sinwar, last week.
“We haven’t yet really determined whether Hamas is prepared to engage,” Mr. Blinken said at a joint news conference with Mr. Al Thani in Doha, the capital of Qatar. “The fundamental question is: Is Hamas serious?”
U.S. officials had seen Mr. Sinwar as a major obstacle to negotiations, and hoped that since his killing the armed group’s surviving leaders might be more open to making a deal with Israel to end the yearlong war in Gaza and release the dozens of hostages remaining there.
The Hostages and Missing Families Forum, a group representing the families of captives in Gaza, said in a statement on Thursday that it welcomed the resumption of cease-fire talks and hoped that Mr. Sinwar’s death would be the launching point for peace.
“We must leverage the last military achievements, particularly the elimination of Sinwar, to secure a single comprehensive deal for all hostages’ return,” the group said.
Mr. Blinken traveled to the Middle East this week at President Biden’s request in the hope of jump-starting talks that had been frozen for months.
But during their joint news conference, neither Mr. Blinken nor Mr. Al Thani offered any sign that Hamas’s position had softened.
Mr. Al Thani said that Qatar had “re-engaged” with Hamas in the week since Mr. Sinwar’s death, via political representatives of the group who maintain an office in Doha, and sensed that Hamas maintains “the same position” as it has since the last formal negotiating proposal it offered months ago. Israel and the United States have rejected that position as unacceptable.
Mr. Al Thani added that Egypt was also playing a role in trying to revive the cease-fire talks, saying that “there are ongoing discussions between Egypt and Hamas.” He did not detail the nature of those discussions.
Mr. Blinken and Mr. Al Thani, who met for more than an hour before addressing reporters, said they had also spoken at length about how to end Israel’s offensive in Lebanon against the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militia in a way that would ensure Israel’s security.
Qatar and Egypt act as intermediaries in the talks because Hamas and Israel do not speak directly to each other, nor does the United States deal directly with Hamas. U.S. officials have said that William J. Burns, director of the C.I.A., will take part in negotiations, as he has in the past.
In a statement, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said that David Barnea, the head of the country’s foreign intelligence service, “will depart on Sunday to a meeting in Doha” with Mr. Burns and Mr. Al Thani.
Mr. Blinken did not say whether the United States might propose any new positions, but he said that as part of his trip to the Middle East, he had been discussing “concrete ideas” for the reconstruction of Gaza after the war.
“This is a moment for every country to decide what role it’s prepared to play and what contributions it could make in moving Gaza from war to peace,” he said.
But more urgent, Mr. Blinken said, was the current humanitarian crisis in Gaza, especially with winter approaching. He announced that the United States would provide an additional $135 million in humanitarian assistance “for Palestinians in Gaza, in the West Bank as well as in the region.”
Since Oct. 7, 2023, the U.S. has provided a total of $1.2 billion in humanitarian assistance.
For months, the Biden administration has pursued a three-phase agreement that would begin with a six-week pause in fighting during which the remaining hostages would be released from Gaza in exchange for Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons. The second phase envisions a permanent cease-fire, and the third provides for a multiyear reconstruction plan for Gaza.
U.S. officials said this week that the Biden administration was open to considering fresh proposals, potentially including a shorter pause of less than two weeks in Israel’s offensive, in exchange for the release of just some of the hostages.
Mr. Blinken, who previously visited Israel and Saudi Arabia this week, emphasized that ending the war in Gaza requires that “we continue to develop a plan for what follows, so that Israel can withdraw, so that Hamas cannot be constituted and so that the Palestinian people can rebuild their lives, rebuild their futures under Palestinian leadership.”
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