TEL AVIV, August 24. /TASS/. An Israeli delegation to the next round of talks in Cairo on hostages held by Hamas is slated for August 25, Dmitry Gendelman, an adviser to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, has told TASS.
According to him, the delegation will be led by Mossad director David Barnea.
The official earlier told TASS that Barnea and head of the General Security Agency (Shabak) Ronen Bar went to Cairo on August 22 for consultations. According to the Jerusalem Post, the visit concerned settling the differences over what is known as the Philadelphi corridor on the Egypt-Gaza border.
Another round of Gaza ceasefire and hostage release consultations was held in Doha on August 15 and 16. The leaders of Egypt, Qatar, and the United States said in their joint statement after the talks that the negotiations had been held in a positive atmosphere. During the consultations, the US, supported by Qatar and Egypt, presented a proposal allowing to resolve differences between Hamas and Israel, according to its text. However, Hamas stated that the new US initiative takes into account Israel’s interests only.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7, 2023, when militants from the Gaza-based Palestinian radical group Hamas staged a surprise incursion into Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip. Hamas described its attack as a response to the aggressive actions of Israeli authorities against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. In response, Israel has declared a state of war readiness; announced a total blockade of the Gaza Strip, home to 2.3 million Palestinians; and began delivering air strikes on the enclave and certain parts of Lebanon and Syria, followed by a ground operation in the enclave. Clashes are underway in the West Bank as well.
According to the Israeli side, 109 people are still being held hostage in the Gaza Strip.