William J. Burns, the CIA director, arrived in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday for a new round of negotiations aimed at releasing more hostages held in Gaza, according to U.S. officials.
Mr. Burns and David Barnea, the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, met with General Abbas Kamel, the head of Egypt’s intelligence service, and Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, the prime minister of Qatar.
Both Egypt and Qatar played prominent roles in the hostage talks. Qatar welcomes the political leadership of Hamas in Doha. Qatari officials have been talking with Hamas officials in recent days about potentially expanding hostage releases, according to an official briefed on the talks.
Qatar announced on Monday that Israel and Hamas had agreed to extend the pause in fighting for two more days to exchange more hostages and prisoners and bring more aid to Gaza.
A U.S. official said Mr. Burns’s talks in Qatar would build on that agreement.
U.S. officials have been heavily involved in pushing for an agreement to release hostages captured during the Hamas-led attacks on Israel on October 7. Mr Burns traveled to Doha on November 9 as he and Mr Barnea held talks with Qatari officials who have been working on the issue.
Hamas and Israel finally reached an agreement on November 21, and exchanges began later that week. In the first four days of the ceasefire, 50 Israelis or dual citizens were released under the agreement, and another 19 hostages – 17 Thais, a Filipino and a Russian-Israeli dual citizen – were released through separate negotiations. In return for the release of the Israelis and dual nationals, Israel paused its military operation in Gaza, poured more aid into the enclave and released some Palestinian prisoners.
Some American officials have expressed hope that the temporary pause can be expanded into some kind of more permanent ceasefire, although Israeli officials have said their military campaign must continue.
A CIA spokeswoman said the agency does not comment on the director’s travel.
Israel has been concerned that some of Hamas’ hostage releases have resulted in children being separated from their mothers or siblings being torn apart. During talks this month, Israeli officials pushed for Hamas to release entire families and stressed to American officials over the weekend that they did not believe Hamas was honoring the agreement.
These concerns were allayed on Monday to such an extent that the break was extended and the parties agreed to further talks in Doha.
Mr. Burns was selected to represent the United States in the hostage negotiations after Israel selected Mr. Barnea to work with the Qatari government on a settlement. Neither Mr. Burns nor Mr. Barnea negotiated directly with Hamas officials, instead working through Qatari intermediaries.
President Biden has often used Mr. Burns as a secret negotiator, taking advantage of his long diplomatic experience and the CIA’s policy of keeping the director’s travel secret.
But Mr Burns is particularly well suited to the current negotiations. As a former ambassador to Jordan, he enjoys great trust among leaders throughout the Middle East, according to U.S., Israeli and Arab officials. During his visit to Israel, Jordan, Egypt and Qatar earlier this month, he focused primarily on building support for a deal to release hostages.