Israel, Hamas Negotiate Hostage Release for Halt in Fighting

Welcome back to World Brief, where we’re looking at hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas, Spain’s controversial Catalan amnesty bill, and U.S.-South Korean talks over regional security threats.

Working through intermediaries, Israeli officials and Hamas militants are negotiating the possible release of some hostages in exchange for a short pause in fighting. According to top diplomats familiar with the talks who spoke to the New York Times, the Islamist group may release as many as 15 people it captured on Oct. 7, including some Americans, if the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) halt strikes on Gaza for three days. Already, the IDF has agreed to allow daily four-hour humanitarian pauses in northern Gaza to allow civilians to evacuate south, U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby confirmed on Thursday.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reiterated on Wednesday that there will be “no cease-fire without the release of our hostages” but did not walk back comments on Monday that Israel would consider “tactical little pauses.”

Hamas is believed to currently have more than 240 hostages. Only four have been released thus far, and just one—an Israeli soldier captured on Oct. 7—has been rescued. CIA Director William Burns and top Qatari officials are helping to mediate the dialogue. Qatar has been particularly central to negotiations, as many of Hamas’s political leaders are based in Doha.

Still, as negotiations progress, the conflict continues to spread beyond Israeli-Palestinian borders. On Wednesday, Brazilian police arrested two people allegedly linked to Hezbollah, a Lebanon-based Hamas ally, on suspicion of recruiting members to carry out “extreme actions” in the Latin American country. Eleven search operations in two states and the capital, Brasília, found evidence of planned attacks against synagogues and other Jewish targets. If found guilty, the two suspects could face up to 15 years in prison.

Meanwhile, two U.S. Air Force F-15E fighter jets on Thursday targeted a weapons warehouse in Syria used by Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its proxy groups. According to the U.S. Defense Department, the strike was in response to attacks carried out against U.S. forces in the region. In the last three weeks, there have been at least 41 attacks on U.S. positions in Iraq and Syria, injuring around 46 U.S. soldiers.

“The United States is fully prepared to take further necessary measures to protect our people and our facilities,” U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said following Thursday’s strike. This is the second U.S. offensive against Iranian-backed targets in eastern Syria in the past month. And it comes after Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen shot down a U.S. MQ-9 Reaper surveillance drone over the Red Sea on Wednesday.

• The World Won’t Be the Same After the Israel-Hamas War by Stephen M. Walt
• With Two Wars Raging, China Tests America in Asia by James Crabtree
• The U.S. Is Preparing an Outsourced Invasion of Haiti by Jonathan M. Katz

Amnesty deal. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez signed a controversial agreement on Thursday with Catalan separatists, who sought independence in 2017. In exchange for introducing a bill that would grant amnesty to prosecuted separatists, the Catalan parties would give Sánchez their backing, helping the embattled prime minister to secure the majority he needs to form a new government after July’s general elections resulted in a hung parliament.

But not everyone is thrilled with Sánchez, who leads the Spanish Socialist Workers’ Party. Far-right protesters took to Madrid’s streets on Thursday to lobby against the proposed amnesty bill. For days, anti-government demonstrations have rallied against Sánchez’s decision to allow the pro-independence Catalan Republican Left to maintain control of Spain’s northeastern region.

Amid growing political turmoil, Spanish far-right politician Alejo Vidal-Quadras was shot in the face outside his home on Thursday. It is unclear if the violence against the co-founder of Spain’s right-wing Vox party is connected to Sánchez’s Catalan legislation. Vidal-Quadras remains in stable condition, and Sánchez offered his condolences and said he hopes for a “swift recovery.”

Blinken in South Korea. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with South Korean Foreign Minister Park Jin on Thursday to discuss key regional security risks: North Korea and Russia. Blinken accused the two autocracies of trading arms equipment and technical support to boost Pyongyang’s nuclear ballistic missile program and aid Moscow’s war in Ukraine.

The two foreign ministers spoke about an extended deterrence strategy that would allow the U.S. military to assist Seoul in defending against potential attacks from North Korea and agreed to improve trilateral cooperation with Japan. Blinken also met with South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol during his two-day trip to Seoul.

Border blockade. Polish truckers blocked three Ukrainian border crossings this week in protest against what they say is their government’s failure to curb competition from Ukrainian truck drivers. Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainian truckers have been exempted from seeking permits to cross the Polish border, and Polish truckers say this has caused an unregulated influx that is harming their business.

Kyiv’s ambassador to Poland condemned the protests, writing on X, formerly known as Twitter, that they are a “painful stab in Ukraine’s back.” The protesting truckers said they were letting through one truck per hour but exempting some shipments from their blockade, including equipment for Ukraine’s army and humanitarian aid, Reuters reported.

In a feat that would make even the late Steve Irwin proud, an Australian cattle producer survived a crocodile attack last month—by biting back. The massive reptile clamped down on Colin Deveraux’s foot while he was walking through a Northern Territory swamp to install fencing. After kicking the croc was unsuccessful, Deveraux accidentally grabbed hold of the animal’s eyelid with his teeth during the struggle, giving him enough leverage to escape. After a long hospital stay, doctors said Deveraux should be able to walk out of the health care facility this week. Man: 1. Croc: 0.