Netanyahu Gives Israeli Negotiating Team Permission To Visit Egypt And Qatar for Hostage Negotiations

Israel’s Tel Aviv: According to a statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has given the go-ahead for an Israeli negotiation team to visit Qatar and Egypt in the coming days in order to resume negotiations for the release of hostages who are currently being held in Gaza, CNN reported.

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has spoken with the Director of the Mossad and the Director of the ISA and has approved the next round of talks—in the coming days—in Doha and Cairo, with guidelines for moving forward in the negotiations,” the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office said in a statement.

Israel’s security agency is called the Israel Security Agency (ISA), also referred to as Shabak or Shin Bet. Director of Shin Bet Ronen Bar and Director of Mossad David Barnea of Israel returned to Israel last week, but their indirect ceasefire-hostage negotiations with Hamas produced no results. Egypt and Qatar served as mediators in the negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
Late last week, Bill Burns, the director of the CIA, travelled to Doha to meet with his colleagues in Qatar, Egypt, and Israel. According to CNN, which cited an Israeli official and a source, he made a plan that Israel approved and then sent back to Hamas.

The Israeli official said that Israel was notified on Tuesday that Hamas had rejected the idea. Then, after Mossad leader David Barnea and CIA Director Burns had left Qatar, Israel decided to send back the team of negotiators that had stayed in Doha.

According to The Times of Israel, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant and Chief of Staff of the Israel Defence Forces, Lt. General Herzi Halevi, have determined that this year’s Independence Day flypast by the Israeli Air Force will not take place.
The Israeli military’s attention to the continuing confrontation between Israel and Hamas, together with the advice of IAF Chief Major General Tomer Bar and Navy Chief Vice Admiral David Saar Salama, has led the IDF to declare that the flypast and the Navy’s flotilla in Eilat will not take place.

According to a story in The Times of Israel, four Israeli fighter planes will still fly over Har Tayyasim and the Mount Herzl military cemetery as a “salute” during the country’s Memorial Day festivities. The IDF said that it had killed the deputy head of Hezbollah’s missile section on Friday in a drone hit in southern Lebanon, amidst the continuing fighting. Al Naim was struck at Bazouriyem while driving a vehicle. According to The Times of Israel,.

Naim is “regarded as a significant source of knowledge in the terror group and leader in the field of rockets,” according to the IDF. According to the IDF, “He was also in charge of organising and carrying out attacks against Israeli civilians and was one of the leaders for heavy-warhead rocket fire.”