MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/. Mossad chief David Barnea held a series of meetings in Qatar on the issue of the release of hostages held by Hamas, Israeli Ambassador to Russia Alexander Ben Zvi told TASS.
"Yes, of course. Our Mossad chief [David Barnea] was there," he said when asked about Israel’s talks on this matter in Qatar.
"This is one of the two key topics we have been raining all the time. Our topics are the release of hostages and the extermination of the Hamas terrorist structure," he explained.
According to the Israeli diplomat, his country "doesn’t typically have direct contacts." "Some contacts did take place in Qatar, but I have no more information," he added.
He said that a scenario providing for a five-day truce and the hostage swap "is one of the options flying in the air." "Until we see anything concrete, it is too early to speak about it. So let us wait for the results of the talks," he stressed.
The Financial Times reported on November 9 that Barnea had met with CIA Director William Burns in Qatar. They discussed with the Qatari authorities conditions for the release of ten to twelve hostages held by Hamas radicals in the Gaza Strip.
Reuters said on November 15, citing an unnamed official that Hamas had agreed on the general terms of a deal with Israel, under which it would release about 50 hostages in exchange for a three-day ceasefire in Gaza. Apart from that, according to the agency, Israel must release some Palestinian women and children kept in Israeli prisons and increase humanitarian assistance to the enclave. However, Israel had not yet agreed upon the deal and details were still discussed, the official told the agency.
The Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported on November 16 that the Mossad chief could visit Qatar again within days to discuss the final scenario of the deal.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.