From the Liveblog of
Thursday, May 23, 2024
CIA director set to meet with Mossad chief in Europe to try to revive hostage talks
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
CIA director William Burns is traveling to Europe to meet with Mossad chief David Barnea in an effort to revive talks for the release of hostages held by Hamas, an Israeli official tells The Times of Israel.
While it is unclear whether Qatari or Egyptian officials will also be present for the meeting both mediating countries continue to be involved in the efforts to secure a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, the Israeli official says.
Israel’s war cabinet approved the resumption of indirect talks with Hamas for the release of hostages early this morning, with a source telling Hebrew media that the negotiating team was handed new guidelines to try and make an elusive breakthrough.
Talks have revolved around the format of a staged hostage release in return for a temporary truce and the release of at least several hundred Palestinian security prisoners held by Israel. The largest stumbling block has been Hamas’s insistence on ending the war, a condition Israel has repeatedly rejected.
It is believed that 124 of 252 hostages abducted during Hamas’s October 7 massacre remain in Gaza — not all of them alive. Hamas terrorists also murdered around 1,200 people on October 7, mostly civilians, many amid acts of brutality and sexual assault.
