Mossad chief met with Qatari PM in Doha to discuss hostage deal — source

By Jacob Magid

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12 December 2024, 4:54 pm

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Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief

Left: Mossad director David Barnea, the head of Israel's hostage-ceasefire negotiating team, speaks during the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism (ICT) World Summit in the central coastal city of Herzliya on September 10, 2023. Right: Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani speaks during a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Doha on January 7, 2024. (Gil Cohen-Magen, Karim Jaafar/AFP/collage)

Mossad chief David Barnea met with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani in Doha on Wednesday to discuss a potential hostage release and Gaza ceasefire deal, a source familiar tells The Times of Israel, confirming an Axios report.

In late October, Qatar ousted Hamas’s leaders from Doha and later announced its decision to halt mediation efforts due to frustration with both sides’ refusal to seriously engage in talks. Last week, though, al-Thani confirmed that Doha had resumed its mediation efforts amid pressure from US President-elect Donald Trump who is seeking a deal before he returns to office on January 20.

Talks have been quietly progressing behind the scenes in recent days, the source says.