Israel sends director of Mossad intelligence agency to Gaza ceasefire talks in Qatar

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has authorized the sending of the director of Mossad foreign intelligence agency halting talks in Qatar as a sign of progress in talks about war in Gaza.

Netanyahu's office announced the decision on Saturday evening, local time. It is not yet clear when David Barnea will go to the capital of Qatar, Doha, where there will be indirect talks between Israel and the terrorist group Hamas. His presence means that the top Israeli officials who will need to sign off on any deal are now involved.

Only a brief truce was achieved in the 15 months of the war, and that happened in the first weeks of the fighting. Negotiations brokered by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have stalled since then.

Netanyahu insisted on destroying Hamas's fighting capacity in Gaza. Hamas has insisted on a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from the heavily damaged area. On Thursday, the Ministry of Health in Gaza said 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in this war.

Others sent to Qatar are the head of Israel's internal security agency Shin Bet and military and political advisers. Netanyahu's office said the decision followed a meeting with his defense minister, security chiefs and discussions “on behalf of the outgoing and incoming US administration.”

The office also released a photo showing Netanyahu with President-elect Donald Trump's special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, who was in Qatar this week.

The families of about 100 hostages still being held in Gaza after being captured in an October 7, 2023 attack that sparked the war are pressing Netanyahu to reach an agreement to bring their loved ones home.

The discovery of the bodies of two hostages last week has renewed fears that time is running out. Hamas said after months of fierce fighting, it is not sure who is alive or dead.

“Come back with an agreement that guarantees the return of all the abductees, down to the last one – those who are still alive to be rehabilitated and those who died to be properly buried in their country,” said a statement from the group representing the families of the abductees.

Israel and Hamas and are under pressure from outgoing Presidents Biden and Trump to reach a deal before the Jan. inauguration. 20.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week that a deal is “very close” and he hopes to complete it before handing over diplomacy to the Trump administration. But U.S. officials have expressed similar optimism several times in the past year.

Issues in the talks include which hostages will be released in the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, which Palestinian prisoners will be released by Israel and the extent of any Israeli military withdrawal from civilian centers in Gaza.

Hamas and other groups killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped about 250 people in Gaza in attacks that started the war. A peace deal in November 2023 freed more than 100 hostages, and others were rescued or their remains found last year.

On Saturday, Israeli airstrikes killed at least 8 Palestinians including two children and two women at a school turned shelter in northern Gaza, according to Civil Defense, the first responders working with the Hamas-run government. It said the strike at the Halawa school, which shelters thousands of homeless people in the Jabaliya area, also injured 30 others, including 19 children.

The Israeli military said it had struck a Hamas compound at an old school in Jabaliya, without providing evidence.

Another strike killed four people on a street in Gaza City, said Civil Defense spokesman Mahmoud Basal. The Gaza Health Ministry said at least 32 bodies have arrived at hospitals in the past 24 hours.

“I'm asking the world, can you hear us? Are we there?” said Hamza Saleh, one of many of Gaza's 2.3 million residents who have been displaced. He spoke on Friday in the southern city of Khan Younis when children and others were clamoring for food aid, at a time when hunger was growing.