David Barnia, the head of Israel’s foreign intelligence service Mossad, will travel to the Gulf state of Qatar on Sunday to negotiate the release of hostages held by the radical Islamist terror group Hamas.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said yesterday that Barnia traveled to Doha at the government’s direction to meet with CIA Director William Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
It should be about ways to re-conduct negotiations “against the background of more recent developments”. The talks, brokered by the US, Qatar and Egypt, included a ceasefire in the Gaza war in exchange for Hamas prisoners and the release of Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
Hamas representative: No change in hostage status
Meanwhile, senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan told the pro-Iranian Lebanese TV channel Al-Majadeen that there was no change in the militant Islamic Palestinian organization’s position on the remaining hostages kidnapped from Israel on October 7, 2023.
Hamdan said the hostages “will only return if the occupation ends and they leave completely”.
Egypt and Qatar are linked to Hamas
Meanwhile, state-affiliated Egyptian television channel Al-Qahira News reported that high-level representatives of Hamas and Egypt met in Cairo for talks. The current situation in Gaza and how to overcome current obstacles to a cease-fire in the sealed coastal areas were discussed.
Qatari mediators have also resumed talks with Hamas after Hamas leader Jahja Sinwar was killed in an Israeli military operation in the southern Gaza Strip last week, according to reports from Doha.
Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said there was an exchange of views with representatives of the Hamas political office in Doha.
Blinking for the eleventh time since the war in the Middle East began
U.S. Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said, “The United States has spoken with Qatar about options for seizing this moment and next steps to move the process forward, and I expect our negotiators will meet in the coming days.”
This is the US Secretary of State’s eleventh trip to the Middle East since the war in Gaza began. He met Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.
