Israel-Hamas war: CIA, Mossad chiefs to meet Qatar PM for temporary ceasefire

Tel Aviv, Jan 26 ( IANS) The director of the American spy agency, Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), and the chief of the Israel Spy agency, Mossad, will be meeting the Prime Minister of Qatar in a European capital for reaching a temporary ceasefire into the ongoing Israel-Hamas war in Gaza strip.

The release of Israeli hostages in Hamas captivity will also be discussed in the meeting along with the temporary ceasefire.

The chiefs of Shin Bet and the Egyptian intelligence will also be present, according to Hebrew media.

CIA director William Burns and Mossad chief David Barnea will meet with Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani to discuss the release of the remaining 132 hostages held by Hamas on October 7, and a pause in fighting in the Gaza strip.

White House Middle East czar Brett McGurk was in Qatar and Egypt this week for talks on the same subject.

Israel’s war cabinet met on Thursday night at the Kirya military headquarters in Tel Aviv to discuss the hostage talks.

IDF hostage envoy Nitzan Alon and PMO hostage coordinator Gal Hirsch were also in attendance.

Burns and Barnea were involved in the earlier meeting with Qatari and Egyptian officials that led to a temporary weeklong ceasefire between November 24 and December 1,2023 that saw 105 hostages freed.

Efforts to secure another agreement to release the remaining hostages, among them children and women, have since not yielded any desired results and hit a road block.

Sources in Israel defense ministry told IANS that while Israel was willing for a one month ceasefire, Hamas wants a permanent end to the war which Israel has rejected outright.

Hamas has also insisted for the withdrawal of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) from the Gaza strip which was also rejected in toto by the Israel side.

On October 7, when Hamas terrorists swarmed into southern Israel and slaughtered 1,200 people, 240 people were kidnapped. Of this, 105 hostages were released during the one week truce from November 24-December 1.

Four of the hostages were released early and a woman IDF soldier was rescued by Israeli army. Three of the hostages were killed in an accidental fire by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). According to IDF and Israel Military Intelligence, 28 of the Israel hostages in Hamas captivity are dead.

Since the Israel army began its counteroffensive, more than 25,000 Palestinians, including women and children, have been killed.