CIA director William Burns will travel to Europe in the coming days to meet with Mossad chief David Barnea and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in an effort to revive talks for the release of Israeli hostages held by Hamas, two officials told The Times of Israel on Thursday.
The high-level meeting will be the first since negotiations fell apart two weeks ago after Hamas responded to a proposal crafted by American, Qatari and Egyptian mediators with amendments deemed unacceptable by both the United States and Israel.
That proposal envisioned the phased release of the 128 remaining Israeli hostages, starting with the release of 33 women, elderly and sick abductees over a six-week truce period. The second phase was supposed to see the release of the remaining hostages along with talks on a permanent ceasefire. Bodies of hostages being held by Hamas would then be released during the third phase.
Hamas’s response to the mediators’ proposals green-lit by Israel included several far-reaching amendments, including a refusal to release 33 living hostages in the first phase.
It is unclear whether Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel will also attend the upcoming Europe meeting, as he has in the past, but Cairo will remain involved in the mediation process, a US official and an Israeli official said, confirming reporting on the Axios news site.
Egypt has fumed over recent reporting in The Times of Israel and CNN that it provided separate proposals to Israel and Hamas in the last round of negotiations, contributing to their collapse two weeks ago. Cairo has threatened to cease its mediation efforts over attempts to doubt its role — a threat made by Qatar last month as well.
The Israeli official speculated that Cairo will not walk away from the talks, as it is too tied to the conflict, given its shared border with Gaza. As long as Qatar continues to host Hamas at the request of the US, Doha will also remain involved in mediation efforts, the Israeli official said, adding that the Gulf kingdom also has the trust of the Biden administration.
The US and Israeli officials confirmed Burns’ trip hours after Israel’s war cabinet authorized Barnea’s negotiating team to resume indirect talks with Hamas.
During the war cabinet meeting, IDF Maj. Gen. Nitzan Alon, who is one of the negotiators, presented an updated plan after his previous proposal was shot down on Saturday night by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Kan public broadcaster reported.
A source told Kan that the negotiating team did not get everything it asked for “but at least progress can be made.”
Talks have revolved around the format of a staged hostage release in return for a temporary truce in the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 terror onslaught and the release of at least several hundred Palestinian security prisoners held by Israel.
While Israel and Hamas were understood to have bridged many gaps, they remain fundamentally at odds regarding whether the deal will lead to a temporary ceasefire — as Israel demands in order to finish off Hamas — or a permanent end to the fighting — as Hamas seeks in order to remain as a force in Gaza.
One hundred and twenty-four hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza — not all of them alive — after 105 civilians were released from Hamas captivity during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released prior to that. Three hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 16 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military.
The IDF has confirmed the deaths of 37 of those still held by Hamas, citing intelligence and findings obtained by troops operating in Gaza.
One more person has been listed as missing since October 7, and their fate is still unknown.
Hamas is also holding the bodies of fallen IDF soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin since 2014, as well as two Israeli civilians, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who are both thought to be alive after entering the Strip of their own accord in 2014 and 2015 respectively.