David Barnea, the director of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, visited Qatar over the weekend to negotiate a possible agreement for the release of some Israeli hostages in Gaza, as reported by media sources.
Israeli officials stated that Hamas captured more than 230 civilians and soldiers and killed more than 1,400 people during its 7 October attack. Among the hostages are citizens of Israel, the US, Europe, and Thailand.
Mossad Chief’s Qatar Visit
Qatar is currently the main negotiator in the hostage crisis between Israel and Hamas.
Barnea met with senior Qatari officials to discuss their efforts to negotiate the release of the more than 230 Israelis and foreigners taken hostage by Hamas and kept in captivity in Gaza after the 7 October terrorist attack, as stated by two sources with direct knowledge of the situation.
Sources suggest that the talks were positive and constructive, but no agreement has yet been reached.
SCOOP: Mossad chief David Barnea visits Qatar for talks on hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.https://t.co/8KZgvhGUuX
— Axios (@axios) October 30, 2023
As per the reports, Barnea visited Qatar after the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) started its ground operation in Gaza.
Officials claimed that the Israeli cabinet had extended ground operations in Gaza after Qatar’s mediation failed. Israel initiated ground raids because Hamas declined to give a complete list of the names of all prisoners held by the group, resulting in a military escalation, the officials stated.
Meanwhile, Hamas notified Qatari officials that it is currently investigating the locations and names of the hostages. But, according to Israeli sources, the consensus in Jerusalem was that this was merely a stalling strategy to prevent an Israeli ground attack.
Qatar Negotiating Talks
Despite Israeli ground forces pressing deeper into Gaza’s besieged enclave, Israel and Hamas have maintained indirect talks regarding the release of civilian hostages held by the Palestinian militant group.
A Qatari official stated the discussions, which Doha mediated, were “ongoing,” but that Israel’s ground strike has complicated the process.
Qatar warns Israeli ground offensive in Gaza complicates hostage talks ‘considerably’ https://t.co/QJWaBLjlAH . Click to read ⬇️
— The Times of Israel (@TimesofIsrael) October 29, 2023
According to sources, Israel’s decision to start an extended ground attack on Gaza on Friday crushed expectations of an immediate agreement, which would have included Israel agreeing to suspend its shelling of the strip for five days and letting fuel and other aid into the enclave.
“They are still talking. They are listening,” a source informed on the discussions said. “Of course, it’s not the same pace as it was on Thursday and Friday, but the talks haven’t stopped.”
A senior Hamas official told the Financial Times last week that the militant group had offered the release of the hostages in exchange for a five-day ceasefire and UN-supervised delivery of food, fuel, and medicine to Gaza’s hospitals, but there were going to be additional conditions to free Israeli civilians.
Reportedly, these conditions would involve the transfer of the injured to Egypt for treatment via the Rafah border crossing. The liberation of Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons would also be a condition. However, sources say that Israeli troops held captive would be kept for a “prisoner swap” later on.
Hostage Families Demand Action
On Saturday, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu met with the families of the Israeli hostages and promised to “exercise and exhaust every possibility to bring them home.”
Netanyahu met with the families of Israeli hostages, some of whom have criticized the decision to expand ground operations in Gaza out of concern it could endanger their loved ones
— Bloomberg (@business) October 28, 2023
Latest updates: https://t.co/7glDnfNcZW pic.twitter.com/MZlckbDcDJ
Israel’s military escalation has alarmed the families, who have set up the “Hostages and Missing Persons Families Forum” to push the government for their relatives’ release.
The families’ group informed Netanyahu that their “unequivocal demand [was] that military action takes into account the fate of the hostages and missing.”
Netanyahu Condemns Latest Hamas Hostage Video
Hamas released a video on Monday showing three hostages taken by the Islamist organisation on 7 October.
The video shows three women seated side by side against a bare wall, identified by Netanyahu as Yelena Trupanob, Danielle Aloni, and Rimon Kirsht, with Aloni sending an angry message to Netanyahu. “You were supposed to free all of us. You committed to free us all. But instead, we are carrying your political, security, military, diplomatic failure,” Aloni stated.
Netanyahu has since denounced the video as “cruel psychological propaganda.” “Abducted by Hamas, which is committing war crimes, I embrace you. Our hearts are with you and with the other captives. We are doing everything to bring home all the captives and the missing,” he said.
Reports indicate that the presence of the hostages in Gaza has hindered the Israeli military operation, which began last week after an aggressive campaign of air strikes that Palestinian officials claim killed over 8,000 people.