The C.I.A. director, William J. Burns, will meet in Warsaw on Monday with Israeli and Qatari officers for talks aimed toward restarting hostage and prisoner exchanges, in response to U.S. officers.
Below a weeklong truce between Israel and Hamas final month, 105 hostages have been freed in change for the discharge of Palestinians from Israeli jails earlier than negotiations broke down and the battle resumed on Dec. 1. Since then, American officers have pushed numerous proposals aimed toward continued humanitarian releases or different exchanges.
Resuming talks has been sophisticated, with deeper variations over the phrases of additional exchanges.
After the deal fell aside, a U.S. official mentioned publicly that Hamas “reneged” on an settlement to launch all feminine hostages. A Hamas official mentioned it thought-about a few of the remaining feminine hostages to be troopers.
Israeli officers, talking on the situation of anonymity, mentioned Hamas didn’t launch as many hostages as promised, whereas making extra calls for. Hamas had been proposing offers that may launch extra Palestinians from Israeli jails, together with higher-profile detainees. Israeli officers insisted they needed all girls and kids launched earlier than discussing additional exchanges.
There are some causes to assume that new talks could also be fruitful. After the unintentional deaths of three hostages, who have been shot by Israeli forces, the Israeli authorities is below extra strain to safe the discharge of the remaining folks being held by Hamas and its allies in Gaza. The USA can be growing strain on Israel to reduce its main fight operations in Gaza and transition to a brand new phrase within the battle.
Mr. Burns is ready to satisfy with David Barnea, the top of Mossad, Israel’s spy company. Mr. Barnea has been main the Israeli negotiation efforts, and the White Home tapped Mr. Burns to work with him.
The 2 males will communicate in Warsaw with Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani of Qatar. The Qataris host Hamas’s political wing in Doha and have been working to facilitate negotiations.
Neither Israel nor the U.S. communicate on to Hamas management, however as an alternative work via the Qataris.
The resumption of talks was earlier reported by Axios. A spokeswoman for the C.I.A. declined to remark, citing the company’s coverage of not discussing the journey of the director.
