Israeli delegation headed to Qatar for Gaza cease-fire talks

By Said Amori

JERUSALEM (AA) - An Israeli negotiating team will leave Monday for Qatar to continue talks on a hostage swap deal and cease-fire in the Gaza Strip with Palestinian factions, according to Israeli media, citing informed sources.

“CIA Director William Burns, Mossad Chief David Barnea, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman, and Egyptian Intelligence Chief Abbas Kamel will participate in these discussions,” the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported.

According to the sources, there is also a possibility that Burns will visit Israel later in the week to secure Tel Aviv's approval of the deal.

Barnea traveled to Doha on Friday for meetings with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani about the deal.

Egypt, Qatar and the US have been trying for months to secure a truce and the release of 120 remaining hostages in Gaza.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group, Hamas.

More than 38,000 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 87,700 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Nearly nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.

Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its military operation in the southern city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala