Mossad director David Barnea will head once again to Doha, Qatar on Sunday for continued talks aimed at freeing the remaining 101 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza, the Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement Thursday night.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomes Egypt’s readiness to advance a deal for the release of the hostages,” the PMO said in the statement.
“Pursuant to the meetings that were held in Cairo, the Prime Minister has directed the Director of the Mossad to leave for Doha and advance a series of initiatives that are on the agenda, with the backing of the members of the Security Cabinet.”
Barnea is expected to meet with CIA Director Bill Burns, as well as with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.
Earlier in the day on Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken addressed the issue at a joint presser in Doha together with the Qatari Prime Minister. Blinken told reporters that he could not offer specifics on what is to be discussed at the upcoming talks, but emphasized America’s concern over “relief to the Palestinian people who so desperately need it” and how to pressure the Israeli government into increasing aid to Gazans — despite repeated, myriad studies and statements showing the sluggish delivery of aid to locals is due to the inability of international aid organizations to deliver the supplies within the enclave.
On Tuesday, an Israeli government spokesperson told reporters there were 600 humanitarian aid trucks filled with supplies parked on the Gaza side of the border, inside the enclave, waiting to be unloaded and their goods delivered to civilians — a situation that has continued for months. Blinken and other US officials have ignored that reality in their zeal to placate those who continue to claim that Gazans are starving even when their own TikTok videos show the lie for what it is.
“We’re looking at different options,” Blinken told reporters in response to a question about the specifics of the latest hostage release and ceasefire proposal. “As you heard the prime minister say, we haven’t yet really determined whether Hamas is prepared to engage. But the next step is getting the negotiators together, and I anticipate we’ll know – and we’ll certainly learn – more in the coming days.
“The bottom line is that, again, the quickest way to actually get hostages home, to actually get much more relief to the Palestinian people who so desperately need it, and to stop the conflict is through such an agreement. And at the same time, as I said, we also have to be working on – as we are – the plans for what would follow. But we’ll know more, I think, in the coming days, but the – again, the fundamental question is: Is Hamas serious? My hope is that – again, in our judgement, [the late Hamas leader Yahya] Sinwar was the biggest obstacle to actually concluding an agreement. My hope is that now their minds will be concentrated, and we can get there and make progress.”
