The US has told Qatar that the presence of Hamas in Doha is no longer acceptable in the weeks since the Palestinian militant group rejected the latest proposal to achieve a ceasefire and a hostage deal, a senior administration official told Reuters on Friday. “After rejecting repeated proposals to release hostages, its leaders should … Read more
Hamas is expected to reject any renewed effort to finalize a hostage agreement until such time as the war in Gaza ends, a security source told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday. “It’s very clear that the hostage deal will only happen” when the war comes to a close, the source said. Israel and the … Read more
Top US officials, including CIA Director William Burns and envoys Brett McGurk and Amos Hochstein, will visit Egypt and Israel on Thursday, the White House confirmed, as Washington seeks to de-escalate tensions in the region. CENTCOM’s commander, US Army General Erik Kurilla, is also in the region and will visit Israel as part of … Read more
Hamas rejected an Israeli offer of safe passage out of the Gaza Strip in exchange for the group laying down its arms and releasing the hostages, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. According to the report, Mossad chief David Barnea, Israel’s top negotiator in the hostage-deal and ceasefire talks, made the offer. Citing … Read more
David Barnea, the head of Israel’s Mossad, will travel to Doha, Qatar early next week in an attempt to restart negotiations for a hostage release and ceasefire deal with several key figures, Israeli media reported. Barnea will meet with CIA head Bill Burns, Prime Minister of Qatar, Mohammed bin Abdel-Rahman Al-Thani, and the head … Read more
The United States is exploring a “new framework” for a deal to secure the freedom of the remaining 101 hostages, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken told reporters on Wednesday before departing Israel for Saudi Arabia. He hinted at the possibility that the release of the captives would be part of a regional deal. … Read more
Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi removed his long-time ally, intelligence chief Maj.-Gen. Abbas Kamel, from his position on Wednesday. Kamel was rotated out of his position as Director of the General Intelligence Directorate (GID) and was appointed special envoy and adviser to the president and general coordinator of the security services. The reasoning for … Read more
The Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian is heading to Qatar on Wednesday, Iranian state media reported. The president recently returned from New York where a large Iranian delegation took part in the UN General Assembly. Pezeshkian recently met Russia’s Prime Minister this week. It is clear that the Iranian president appears to be keeping up … Read more
The hostage deal talks between Israel and Hamas have widely been reported as being stuck on a couple of key issues, specifically the statuses of the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridor. These are two of several highly valued strategic locations along the Gaza border, and they have been a facet of Israeli security decisions for … Read more
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu canceled the government’s weekly meeting scheduled for 12:00 p.m. on Sunday, following the IDF’s retrieval of six bodies of hostages from Gaza on Saturday, a government spokesperson confirmed. Netanyahu instead scheduled a National Security Cabinet meeting for 4:00 p.m. Already on Saturday, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that it … Read more
