Israel’s Mossad chief to head to Doha for hostage deal talks: PM’s office

JERUSALEM — David Barnea, Chief of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, will head to Qatar’s Doha on Sunday to discuss the release of hostages in Gaza, the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said.

Barnea will meet with US Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, discussing with them the possibilities of restarting negotiations for the release of Israeli hostages held in Gaza, against the background of the latest developments, the office said on Thursday in a statement.

Meanwhile, Israel’s state-owned Kan TV News reported that Hassan Mahmoud Rashad, the new head of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, is also expected to participate in the talks, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to the channel, after Israel assassinated Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, Barnea recently said that Israel must act flexibly to move forward with the hostage release deal.

An Israeli official familiar with the talks told the channel that there are question marks regarding Hamas, which insists on its demands for the release of Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel, withdrawal of the Israeli military from the Gaza Strip, and an end to the ongoing war.

Earlier on Thursday, Al Thani, also Qatar’s Foreign Minister, told a press conference that “a negotiating team from the US will visit Doha alongside the negotiating team from the Israeli side to discuss means by which a breakthrough can be achieved,” without specifying the timetable.

He said that the US, Qatar, and Egypt are continuing their efforts to broker a ceasefire in Gaza and that the mediators have “re-engaged” with Hamas following the killing of Sinwar.

Israel has been conducting a large-scale offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip to retaliate against a Hamas rampage through the southern Israeli border on October 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and around 250 taken hostage.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza has risen to 42,847, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Thursday.