Israel has withdrawn the Mossad intelligence agency’s negotiating team from the Arab Gulf state of Qatar after negotiations on a new ceasefire and prisoner swap between Israel and armed Palestinian groups stalled. International news agencies reported this on Saturday.
“Following the stalemate in negotiations and at the direction of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, David Barnea, head of Mossad, ordered his team in Doha to return to Israel,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.
Barnea thanked the head of the US intelligence agency CIA, the Egyptian Minister of Intelligence, and the Prime Minister of Qatar for their mediation, which led to the release of 84 Israeli women and children and 24 foreign hostages from the Gaza Strip.
On Friday, a Mossad mediation team was in Qatar to discuss possible releases of new categories of Israeli hostages, other than women and children, and to see what the conditions are for a new ceasefire. An anonymous source familiar with the visit contradicted this Reuters news agency. Israel says 115 adult men, 20 women and two children remain held captive in Gaza.
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