Mossad-Qatar meeting over hostages has taken place, source says
From CNN’s Alex Marquardt in Tel Aviv
A meeting between David Barnea, the director of Israel’s Mossad spy agency, and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani has taken place, a source familiar with the meeting told CNN Sunday.
Barnea had been expected to meet at the end of the week with Qatar’s prime minister in Europe to continue discussions about getting hostages released by Hamas, a source told CNN Saturday.
The meeting comes after another trip Barnea was meant to make to Doha was canceledearlier in the week by the Israeli government.
This latest meeting was planned before the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) accidentally killed three Israeli hostages in Gaza on Friday, but that incident has added urgency to the conversations, the source said. The source requested anonymity to discuss the sensitive deliberations.
On Thursday an Israeli official told CNN that the war cabinet felt “conditions are not right” to try to restart the talks.
Qatar and the US have been working to try to resurrect the negotiations, with new proposals made to free more of the more than 100 hostages in Gaza.
A truce last month brought the first pause in fighting after weeks of conflict, and saw Israeli hostages – mostly women and children – exchanged for Palestinian prisoners.
