A way forward to releasing hostages and bringing peace to Gaza
By Peter Bailey
The hostage crisis that has bedevilled Israel for almost two years since the barbaric invasion of Israel by Hamas terrorists from Gaza, has been leveraged by the Hamas leadership to its utmost advantage. Besides the carnage on the day, which included the murder of women and children, rape, disfiguration and the burning of live victims, including children, Hamas dragged 251 men, women and children into captivity to be held as hostage. 224 living hostages were taken as well as the bodies of 27 victims who were killed by Hamas during the initial attack. The current impasse is totally unacceptable, with Hamas manipulating global public opinion against Israel while the Jewish state battles the double challenge of trying to stem the tide of mass media hysteria and ensuring that a similar terror attack never happens again.
Numerous attempts have been made to arrange for temporary cease fire arrangements, which have resulted in 205 hostages being released or rescued to date. The following information is on the Foreign Ministry’s Hostages and Missing Persons Report as at 22 June 2025.
As of 22 June 2025, 50 hostages are still being held in captivity in Gaza. Of these, 49 were abducted on October 7 and one hostage (Hadar Goldin) has been held in Gaza since 2014.
| 2023: | Four Israelis were released before the hostage release outline 81 Israelis and 24 foreign nationals were released in accordance with the hostage release outline One hostage was rescued alive in an IDF rescue operation |
| 2024: | Seven hostages were rescued alive |
| 2025: | 25 Israelis and five Thai nationals were released in accordance with the hostage release outline One live hostage was returned to Israel |
| 57 deceased hostages were brought back to Israel |
To date, 205 people were rescued or released from Hamas captivity. 148 of the hostages returned alive and 57 deceased.
While these figures are cold statistics, they tell us that almost 82% of the hostages taken on 7 October 2023 have been either released or rescued. Tragically, Hamas and its fellow terrorist groups in Gaza are still holding 50 captives as hostages for ransom. The world has by and large remained silent about the hostages and their fate, even the International Red Cross, which has a mandated responsibility to do its utmost to care for and arrange for the release of hostages has been silent, except for making regular demands to visit the terrorists captured in Gaza since the horrific attack on 7 October.
Negotiations for the release of the hostages have largely been entrusted to Qatar and Egypt, with numerous intercessions by the United States. The choice of Qatar and Egypt as mediators is quite disconcerting, as both have a far closer relationship with Hamas than they have with Israel, and can under no circumstances be classified as impartial. Qatar is the owner and funder of the Al Jazeera news network, which can be considered as the public relations arm of the Gaza terrorist factions. Since 7 October 2023, Al Jazeera has published material, often unsubstantiated, that has had immense negative influence on global public opinion regarding Israel’s current war in Gaza. This could not be pursued without the approval of the government of Qatar.
Egypt, in contrast to Qatar, is opposed to the Muslim Brotherhood, the spiritual mentors of Hamas and its terrorist fellow traveller, Palestinian Islamic Jihad. While ostensibly joining the Israeli blockade of Gaza, Egypt has regularly turned a blind eye to the passage of war materials and many other necessities required by Hamas to develop the labyrinth of tunnels that crisscross Gaza from end to end. These are the very tunnels in which many of the hostages have been and are still being held captive, and from which Hamas terrorists stage surprise attacks on Israeli Defense Force personnel. How the many white Toyota Hilux pickup trucks used on 7 October were imported into Gaza remains an open question.
Qatar is a different kettle of fish altogether, being strongly influenced by the philosophy of the Muslim Brotherhood, making Qatar itself a follower of stringent Islamic fundamentalism. Qatar, a hereditary dictatorial monarchy, has regularly provided a safe haven for Muslim Brotherhood members who have fallen out with their host countries, which has historically resulted in tense and often fractured relationships with the other Sunni Muslim states in the Gulf region and beyond. Qatar’s penchant for providing a safe haven for Muslim Brotherhood adherents has resulted in the monarchy becoming home to the external leadership of Hamas. This has been the case since a personal request in 2011 by then US president Barack Obama for Qatar to provide an external office for the Hamas leadership. His rationale was that it would be easier to negotiate with the Hamas leaders in Qatar, a favoured US ally, than in its previous base in Iran, the primary sponsor of Hamas. Since that time, not only does Hamas have an office in Qatar, but its so-called political leadership, who are essentially terrorists in exile, have luxurious living quarters for themselves and their families in the capital city of Doha.
The support provided by Qatar to Hamas did not end with providing an external headquarters, but has included substantial financial handouts since the overthrow of the Palestinian Authority Government in Gaza by Hamas in 2007. Since then, it is reliably estimated that Qatar has transferred some $1.8 billion to Hamas, in addition to regular monthly $30 million payments to the terrorists, facilitated by the Israeli Government since 2018. Qatar has also been a generous sponsor of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, another Gaza terrorist group who participated in the atrocities committed on 7 October 2023. The flow of money from Qatar was briefly interrupted during the 18-month period of the Bennet/Lapid governments, who refused to allow Israel to facilitate the payments. The Netanyahu government reinstated the monthly payment facility immediately after the current coalition came to power in December 2022.
Financial contributions to Hama appear to have stopped after 7 October 2023, but Qatar, as the host of the Hamas leadership, found itself ideally placed to become a leading mediator, as did Egypt, in view of its shared border with Gaza. While most of the hostage negotiations mediated by Qatar and Egypt that have taken place have borne no fruit, there can be little doubt that neither are unbiased mediators. With the same old staggered and partial release deals for release of the hostages once again on the negotiating table, the time for a fresh approach to ending the hostage crisis is long overdue.
PATH TO PEACE
Affirming the close relationship as allies between the United States and Qatar, President Donald Trump expressed on 14 May 2023 that Qatar “is a great friend of the United States.” Furthermore, Trump appears to have a very close personal relationship with the rulers of Qatar, who gifted him a $400 million luxury aircraft. Despite vis-vis Israel, Qatar being projected as an enemy state there is much evidence to the contrary and even Prime Minister Netanyahu has expressed that Qatar “is a friend” of Israel. Optimizing on these relationships, is it not long overdue that Trump and Netanyahu exercise leverage on their much-vaunted friend Qatar by insisting that the leaders of Hamas be taken into protective custody to be held until all the hostages held in Gaza have been released? Qatar would prove its bona fides by obliging to this not unreasonable and potentially life-saving request. Furthermore, it is the kind of positive action that a responsible government would be expected to take in the interests of saving lives with the added bonus and of elevating its international standing by effectively contributing to resolving global challenges. While Qatar’s immense wealth has bought it multiple privileges and quality international events – notably the 2022 FIFA World Cup – ending the hostage crisis, would cement Qatar’s much desired position as a respected world leader.
The friendship that has developed between Trump, Netanyahu and Qatar should be exploited to the hilt. Used strategically it could herald Hamas being “persuaded” to relinquish its political ambitions in Gaza including total disarmament. This could lead to a welcome new deal for the beleaguered people of Gaza and allow for the enclave to be rebuilt as a haven of peace with a great potential for prosperity and prove a showpiece of the possibility of a semi-autonomous Palestinian state living side-by-side and in peace with Israel.
However, to achieve this, Qatar has the key.
The question is:
Can it be persuaded to use it to unlock the path to freeing the hostages and the citizens of Gaza from the catastrophic clutches of Hamas?
*Feature picture:
A Key Player. Exceeding 7m in length and 3m in width, Qatar set in 2016 a World Record feat for the ‘Largest Key’, which was previously held by Cyprus. With its strong relations with Hamas, the writer believes Qatar holds another more important key – the key to bringing an end to the war in Gaza.
About the writer:
The writer, Peter Bailey, a military history buff, was a Major in the South African Army Reserve before making aliyah in 2013. He is the author of two books: Street Names in Israel; and Men of Valor: Israel’s Latter Day Heroes.
While the mission of Lay of the Land (LotL) is to provide a wide and diverse perspective of affairs in Israel, the Middle East and the Jewish world, the opinions, beliefs and viewpoints expressed by its various writers are not necessarily ones of the owners and management of LOTL but of the writers themselves. LotL endeavours to the best of its ability to credit the use of all known photographs to the photographer and/or owner of such photographs (0&EO).
