CIA, Egypt to join Qatar for mediation between Hamas & Israel over hostage release

Tel Aviv, Dec 17: The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Egyptian government will join Qatar to mediate between Hamas and Israel over hostage release negotiations.

Media reports said that Mossad Chief David Barnea will meet Qatari PM Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Norway for talks aimed at finding a new deal regarding the release of kidnapped hostages.

Sources in the Israeli government told IANS that earlier also the CIA Chief William Burns and Egyptian Intelligence Minister General Abbas Kamel were involved in the negotiations between Hamas and Israel.

Source said that the CIA and Egyptian Intelligence will play a major role to take the mediatory talks forward as there is trust deficit between Hamas and Israel.

Earlier, Israel had not allowed the Mossad Chief to participate in negotiation with Qatar after a weeklong ceasefire ended on December 1.

During the first hostage deal, Hamas has released 105 civilians including 81 Israelis, 23 Thai nationals and one Filipino while the Israelis released 240 Palestinian prisoners.

It is believed that Hamas still has 129 hostages under captivity while sources have said that at least 20 hostages died due to various reasons.

Israel launched a ground offensive inside Gaza on October 27 after Hamas attacked Israel in a surprise attack on October 7 in which 1200 Israelis were killed and over 200 were taken hostage.

Since the outbreak of hostilities between Hamas and Israel, over 21,731 Palestinians have been killed including 8,697 children and 4,410 women.