Mossad chief David Barnea and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar attend a state ceremony marking the Hebrew calendar anniversary of the Hamas attack on Oct 7 of last year which sparked the ongoing war in Gaza, at Mount Herzl military cemetery in Jerusalem on Oct 27, 2024. Photo by Chaim Goldberg FLASH90
Mossad Director David Barnea traveled to Doha, Qatar on Sunday for meetings with CIA head William Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani aimed at restarting the hostage negotiations.
These talks will not include representatives from the Hamas terror group and are meant to explore options for resuming indirect negotiations after the killing of its top leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza this month
At the same time Barnea was departing for Qatar, Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi announced a new Egyptian proposal for a two-day ceasefire to include the release of four Israeli hostages in exchange for an as-yet undetermined number of Palestinian prisoners.
The Egyptian proposal was announced during a joint press conference with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune in Cairo.
Barnea was in Cairo last week for talks with newly-appointed Egyptian Intelligence Director Hassan Rashad.
Reports in Hebrew media last week indicated that Israel was willing to consider a “small deal” in order to restart negotiations over the release of all remaining hostages held in Gaza.
It is not clear if el-Sisi’s proposal came as a result of the discussions between Barnea and Rashad, however, the Egyptian president said it was an attempt to get the stalled negotiations back on track. Hebrew news site N12 claimed that the two intelligence heads discussed the plan in their meeting.
The Egyptian proposal would include 10 days of negotiations following the release of the four Israeli hostages and the Palestinian prisoners, with the goal of reaching a permanent ceasefire and a final agreement on hostage releases.
Neither Israel nor Hamas have officially responded to the proposal so far. However, N12 claimed that when Barnea first presented the proposal to the Cabinet, it was opposed by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who are against any agreement with Hamas.
The report also claimed that Netanyahu opposed the deal, though his reasoning was that he thinks better terms for Israel might still be achievable.
During his meeting with Rashad, Barnea offered to give Hamas leaders a guarantee of safe passage out of Gaza if they disarmed and released the remaining hostages, the Wall Street Journal reported.
According to a report in Saudi Arabian newspaper Al Sharq, Hamas plans to offer “a comprehensive deal to end the war immediately, including Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, combined with a prisoner exchange involving all the Israeli hostages.”
The Hamas offer would bring an immediate end to the fighting, a withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and the release of all the hostages at one time, in exchange for an agreed number of Palestinian prisoners.
A senior source in the organization told Al Sharq they are open to other proposals from the mediators, “but for our part, we prefer a comprehensive deal that takes place in one stage and ends the war once and for all, in return for a prisoner exchange under which all Israeli captives are released in exchange for an agreed number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.”
Israel is not likely to accept the Hamas offer, as it would leave Hamas in control of Gaza.
One of Israel’s stated war objectives is to dismantle Hamas’ military capabilities and remove it from power in Gaza.
An Israeli source familiar with the hostage negotiations was pessimistic about the latest attempts to restart negotiations with Ynet news.
According to the source, “We’re negotiating with ourselves and with the middlemen.”
He said that contrary to recent reports, “…at no point was there really any real negotiations with Hamas. They made a demand, and did not budge from it by a millimeter: a complete end to the war and a complete withdrawal from Gaza, and that will not happen.”