An anonymous source confirmed to AFP that the team had arrived a week following the visit of Mossad chief David Barnea to Doha.
An Israeli delegation was in Doha for renewed talks on a potential prisoner exchange between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
“This is between Israeli and Qatari working-level teams,” an anonymous source familiar with the talks told AFP.
Israeli Minister of Defence Israel Katz reportedly informed members of the Knesset’s foreign affairs committee that the government has “not been this close to an agreement on the captives since the previous deal”.
These remarks followed a meeting between Israeli intelligence chief David Barnea and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha on December 11, where they continued discussions on a possible ceasefire and prisoner exchange in Gaza, according to sources familiar with the visit.
An anonymous senior Hamas official based in Doha also confirmed that the ceasefire negotiations were progressing.
“A deal for exchanging prisoners and ceasefire between the resistance and the occupation has actually become closer than ever before, if (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu does not intentionally disrupt the agreement as he has done every time before,” the official said, as reported by AFP.
The source went on to say that Hamas had informed key mediators Egypt and Qatar of its readiness to stop the war.
“But Hamas stressed at the same time that it will not accept anything less than an agreement that leads to a complete and permanent cessation of the war, a full withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip, including the Philadelphi and Netzarim axes, the return of the displaced, and a serious prisoner exchange deal,” the source said.
Earlier this month, Qatar-owned online newspaper Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported that negotiations had reached an advanced stage, noting that names of Israeli captives have been exchanged with the mediators involved in the deal.
The source told the website said that technical committees within Hamas, as well as Egyptian and Israeli officials, had discussed the details of implementing a captives and prisoner exchange agreement.
The source also revealed that Hamas handed mediators from Egypt a preliminary list, pending approval from an Israeli delegation that have reportedly began examining the names and proposal.
According to the report, Qatar, Turkey and the United States were supervising the negotiations.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has also continued to push for the release of captives ahead of his inauguration on January 20, 2025.
Israel’s 14-month old genocide on the Gaza Strip has resulted in more than 45,000 Palestinians killed, mostly women and children. The actual death toll is believed to be much higher, with thousands missing or buried under the rubble.
Around 101 captives are still believed to be in the besieged territory.
