Mossad chief Barnea in Qatar for Gaza ceasefire talks

The head of the Israeli intelligence agency Mossad, David Barnea, reportedly traveled to Qatar on Thursday, Israeli media said, in what appeared to be a return to talks on a Gaza ceasefire deal and the release of Israeli captives.

Barnea will reportedly meet with Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, the Israeli website Walla said, to discuss a hostage and prisoner exchange and ceasefire deal in war-battered Gaza.

An Israeli working-level team reportedly arrived in Cairo earlier this week on Monday, while a Hamas delegation traveled to the Egyptian capital Cairo one day later.

Barnea's meeting with al-Thani signals a return to the negotiation table for the Mossad chief, two months after he was replaced as a negotiator by Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer.

This was after a decision by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the heads of Mossad and the Shin Bet security service will no longer participate in such talks.

Shin Bet’s chief Ronen Bar, whose sacking by Netanyahu in March has been met with strong backlash in Israel, was replaced as a negotiator by a former deputy director of the intelligence service.

Members of Israel’s negotiation team reportedly asked Netanyahu to reinstate Barnea to head the captive exchange and ceasefire negotiations, Israel Hayom said.

Dermer has been criticised by captives’ families for deliberately obstructing negotiations that would see the release of remaining Israelis held in the Gaza Strip.

In March, the brother of a captive soldier accused Netanyahu and Dermer of "working to convince US President Donald Trump that most of the captives were already dead," in a bid to reduce pressure for further talks.

The Israeli army renewed its brutal war on Gaza on 18 March breaking a two-month ceasefire which was still in its first phase, killing nearly 2,000 Palestinians since.

Over 51,400 have been killed by the Israeli military since October 2023.

Around 59 Israeli captives are still believed to be held in Gaza, with 24 still alive. Israel has imprisoned thousands of Palestinians, many held without charge or trial.

Negotiations for a second phase of the ceasefire have not yielded any results, as Hamas has rejected Israel’s demands for the Palestinian group to disarm completely, insisting that their weapons are a necessity and a legitimate right for the Palestinian people.

The withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and a subsequent end to the war have also been major sticking points in ceasefire negotiations.

On Tuesday, Qatari and Egyptian mediators proposed a ceasefire deal spanning five to seven years that would see the release of all remaining Israeli captives in exchange for a number of Palestinian prisoners, as well as the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the war-battered territory, a Palestinian official said.

Khalil al-Hayya, a senior leader, said that Hamas will also discuss new ceasefire proposal ideas with Egyptian mediators during those talks.