CIA chief to meet with negotiators to broker deal for Hamas to release hostages, cease-fire in Gaza: report
President Biden plans to send CIA Director Bill Burns to meet with Qatari, Egyptian and Israeli negotiators to help broker a deal that would see Hamas release all its hostages in exchange for a cease-fire in Gaza, officials said.
Burns is expected to go to Europe in the coming days to meet with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Israel’s Mossad Director David Barnea and Egyptian Intelligence Director Abbas Kamel, sources familiar with the plans told the Washington Post.
Qatar and Egypt have been leading the talks, which remain at a stand-still with Israel and Hamas refusing to accept the other’s condition for a temporary truce and hostage exchange.
Burns is expected to help push the talks along as the US has remained an active member on the negotiation table, with the negotiators expected to “exert joint pressure on Hamas,” an senior Israeli official told Channel 12.
The CIA and White House declined to comment on Burns’ alleged deployment overseas.
Along with moving the negotiations forward, Burns will also likely be tasked with smoothing things over between Israel and Qatar.
Qatari officials had criticized the Jewish State for hampering the negotiation talks following reports this week that Netanyahu allegedly characterized the nation’s role as mediators in the Gaza war as “problematic.”
The quote, which aired on Israeli news broadcasts, was allegedly leaked from a meeting Netanyahu held with families of the more than 130 Israelis who remain captive in Gaza.
The prime minister’s statements referred to Qatar’s role as a host to Hamas’ leadership, as well as the fact that the nation provides millions of dollars of aid to Palestinians living in Gaza.
Qatar, however, has been touted by the US as a key ally in the region who has helped broker hostage deals in the past, including November’s truce that saw more than 100 captives freed from Gaza.
“These remarks if validated, are irresponsible and destructive to the efforts to save innocent lives, but are not surprising,” Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari wrote on X on Wednesday night.
Netanyahu did not respond to the criticism from Qatari officials.
Amid the rift, Qatar revealed that Hamas had called off negotiations with Israel until the IDF completely withdraws its troops from the Gaza Strip, according to i24 News.
The Qatari negotiators stressed that Hamas is demanding a “package deal” to cover all steps of a hostages exchange and truce in Gaza, while Israel has repeatedly tried to negotiate one stage of the deal at a time.
The deal that was mostly recently being discussed called for a month-long truce that would allow the hostages to be safely freed in exchange for Palestinian prisoners being held in Israel.
