Netanyahu sends Mossad chief to Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with the incoming US Middle East envoy. Afterward, the prime minister's office announced that he sent Mossad chief David Barnea to ceasefire talks in Qatar.

Israel will send a delegation led by the head of its spy agency, Mossad, to ceasefire negotiations in Qatar, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement late on Saturday.

It was not immediately clear when Mossad chief David Barnea would travel to Qatar. Also being sent to Qatar are the head of Israel's Shin Bet internal security agency and military and political advisers.

One brief ceasefire has been achieved during 15 months of fighting.

Talks mediated by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have so far failed to achieve another ceasefire and the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza.

Netanyahu's office also said he met on Saturday with Steve Witkoff, the incoming US Middle East envoy appointed by President-elect Donald Trump.

Earlier this week, Witkoff was in Doha, where he met with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, according to Qatar's Foreign Ministry.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week that a deal is "very close" and he hoped to complete it before handing over diplomacy to the incoming Trump administration.

'Time is running out'

Palestinian group Hamas said on Saturday that the fate of one of the hostages kept in Gaza depends on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The comments were a reference to one of the hostages after his wife made a video address to the group in Arabic to ask for proof of life.

"Time is running out," Hamas' armed wing, the al-Qassam Brigades, said in a statement quoted by the AFP news agency. 

Families of the roughly 100 hostages still held in Gaza after being seized in the October 7, 2023, militant attack that preceded the war are pressing Netanyahu to reach a deal to bring their loved ones home.

Hamas is classified as a terror organization by the US, the EU, Germany and other governments.

zc/lo (AP, Reuters, AFP)