Jerusalem--The head of Israel’s spy agency is to return to Doha Friday to meet with his American and Egyptian counterparts and Qatar’s prime minister for ongoing Gaza truce talks, Israel said.
Barnea was in Doha Monday but flew back home after talks were restarted following failed efforts to secure a truce before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, which began last week.
“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved an Israeli delegation led by Mossad head David Barnea to go to Qatar” on Friday, the Israeli premier’s office said.
Technical teams had remained behind after Barnea’s departure to review details of a potential deal after the principal negotiators discussed the main issues.
Barnea is to meet CIA director William Burns, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, Netanyahu’s office said.
Palestinian fighters seized about 250 Israeli and foreign hostages during the October 7 attack on Israel, but dozens were released during a week-long truce in November.
Israel believes about 130 remain in Gaza, including 33 who are presumed dead — eight soldiers and 25 civilians.
The war began when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack from Gaza that left about 1,160 dead in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official figures.
Israel’s military has waged a retaliatory offensive against Gaza, killing 31,988 people, most of them women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.