The head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, David Barnea, will travel to Qatar on Sunday, where he will hold talks on the release of hostages held by the Islamist group Hamas, DPA reported.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office announced today that Barnea will travel to Doha at the Prime Minister’s request to meet with CIA Director William Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
The purpose of the visit will be to discuss ways to resume negotiations “in light of recent events.”
The negotiations, led by the mediation of the United States, Qatar and Egypt, aim to achieve a truce in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of hostages from Hamas and the release of Palestinian prisoners by Israel, writes BTA.
There has been no progress in the talks for months. Israel hopes the assassination of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar will change that.
Hamas continues to stick to its previous demands, including the demand for a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and an end to the war.
Netanyahu today welcomed Egypt’s willingness to reach an agreement on the hostages. He said that after the Cairo meetings, he decided to send the Mossad chief to Qatar to “present a series of initiatives on the agenda” of the talks.