Israel-Gaza war
Relatives of those abducted say they are shocked as David Barnea was reportedly prevented from visiting Qatar
Israel's War Cabinet has blocked a planned visit to Qatar by the country's foreign intelligence chief that was aimed at boosting negotiations on a new hostage release deal.
According to multiple reports, David Barnea, the head of the Mossad, wanted to travel to Qatar but was prevented from doing so by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other cabinet ministers.
The decision led to the hostages' families demanding an explanation, saying they were “shocked” by it.
In a statement, they called for an “immediate end to the deadlock in negotiations,” adding that they were “at the end of their tether with indifference and stagnation.” They described the situation as a daily “Russian roulette where families are informed of the murder of a hostage in captivity.”
While Hamas is believed to still be holding around 138 hostages in Gaza, Israel announced earlier this week that 19 of them had been killed. Some were said to have been killed on October 7 and their bodies taken to Gaza, while others were said to have been killed while in captivity in the coastal strip.
In a high-profile incident, 25-year-old hostage Sahar Baruch, kidnapped from Kibbutz Be'eri on October 7 during Hamas's shock raid across the Gaza border, was killed in a failed hostage rescue mission by Israeli defense forces.
On Thursday it was revealed that Joshua Loitu Mollel, a 21-year-old agricultural student from Tanzania who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nahal Oz, had been killed in captivity.
About 240 civilian and military hostages were seized by Hamas on October 7. While more than 100 hostages were released during a week-long ceasefire that ended on December 1, fears are growing for those still detained as Israel has stepped up its ground and air offensive in Gaza amid fierce intra-city fighting in several key locations.
On Wednesday, families of US hostages in Gaza met US President Joe Biden at the White House. After the two-hour meeting, family members said they believed Biden was making great efforts to secure the release of family members.
Jonathan Dekel-Chen, the father of Sagui Dekel-Chen, 35, who was kidnapped from Kibbutz Nir Oz, said: “We felt before, and were only strengthened by this, that we couldn't have a better friend in Washington.” or in the White House as President Biden himself and his administration.”
Some Palestinian Americans have made it out of Gaza, but their journey to safety isn't over yet
However, relations between the hostage families and Netanyahu have been more tense since there was an angry meeting between them and Israel's war cabinet earlier this month, in which the hostage's daughter, Chaim Peri, 79, told the Israeli prime minister that the hostages were still were being held “living on borrowed time.”
While informal lines of communication between Hamas and Israel through intermediaries Qatar and Egypt appear to have been kept open since the ceasefire collapsed on December 1, there appears to have been little substantive movement, despite alleged claims that Israel was approaching Egypt with an attack Prospect of a resumption of talks.
According to a report in the Qatari newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, Basem Naim, a member of Hamas' political bureau, reiterated his group's position that there could be no negotiations while fighting continues.
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