Mossad chief said meeting Qatari official in NYC in bid to patch ties after botched Doha strike on Hamas leaders

Mossad chief David Barnea is meeting with a senior Qatari official in New York at the behest of US envoy Steve Witkoff in a bid to mend ties that were frayed by the botched Israeli strike in Qatar on September 9, which targeted a meeting of the Hamas terror group’s political leadership, Axios reports.

According to the report, which cited two unnamed sources,  this is the first meeting of a trilateral mechanism designed to improve the relationship between Jerusalem and Doha. Even though the countries do not have diplomatic relations, Qatar played a key role in mediating with Hamas.

The meeting is the highest-level meeting between the countries since the strike.

In late September, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu apologized to his Qatari counterpart, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim al-Thani for violating Qatari sovereignty.

Though the strike failed to kill the key Hamas leaders it was targeting, it did kill several lower-level members in the terror group, along with one Qatari guard. Following the attack, Qatar — which had until then played a key role in negotiations between Israel and Hamas amid the war in Gaza — refused to serve as a mediator.

Axios says today’s meeting is likely to focus on how to move forward to the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire.