The U.S. envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, will also return to Doha following last week’s visit to the Gulf state.
Israel’s Mossad chief, David Barnea, and Shin Bet security head, Ron Bar, are on their way to Doha to continue discussions from last week’s Gaza ceasefire and captives exchange talks held in the Gulf state.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has dispatched the high-level delegation, which also includes Israeli General, Nitzan Alon, and senior captive deal negotiator, Ophir Falk, to “depart for Doha to continue advancing a deal” to release the captives, according to a statement from his office on Saturday.
The order came after Netanyahu met with U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, in Jerusalem on Saturday.
Outgoing president Joe Biden’s Middle East adviser Brett McGurk, who is in Doha leading the U.S. delegation, joined the Jerusalem meeting via conference call alongside senior Israeli officials such as defence minister Israel Katz.
Witkoff, who met with Qatari Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Doha on Friday, will return to Qatar, according to U.S. sources cited by Axios.
During Witkoff’s meeting with Sheikh Mohammed, the U.S. envoy reiterated the need to reach a deal between Israel and Palestinian resistance group Hamas before Trump takes office on January 20.
Axios reported that Witkoff delivered a message that the U.S. President-elect “wants to see a deal within days”.
Trump has time and time again threatened that “all hell will break loose” in the Middle East should a captives release deal fail to reach fruition before his inauguration.
A senior Israeli official told Axios that there “is a chance of reaching an agreement, but it is a serious challenge”.
“The heads of the Israeli negotiating team would not have gone to Qatar if they did not think an agreement could be reached. It will be difficult, but the team will do its best to reach a deal.”
Biden, set to leave office on January 20, said there was “real progress” in the talks on Thursday.
On Saturday, a senior Hamas official told Qatar-based daily Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that a final version of a proposed deal had been completed and is now waiting for Netanyahu’s approval before announcing the deal, its details and timeline.
The source detailed that the proposed Gaza ceasefire deal includes a complete withdrawal from the Salah al-Din (Philadelphi) corridor on the last day of the agreement’s stages. Under the proposal, Israeli forces will withdraw gradually over three phases, according to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed.
Talks aimed at cementing a ceasefire in Gaza and captives exchange between Israel and Hamas have been mediated by Qatar, the U.S. and Egypt but have stalled for months.
Indirect talks between Israel and Hamas resumed in Qatar last weekend. In November, the Gulf state announced it had withdrawn from its mediation efforts until both parties displayed “willingness and seriousness” in reaching a deal.
Some 100 captives remain in Gaza, including the bodies of 34. Of the captives remaining, seven are U.S. citizens.
Hamas and Israel have accused one another of hindering a successful deal.
The Palestinian resistance group, which has stressed the condition of Israel’s full withdrawal from the territory, has blamed Israel for last-minute changes in its demands.
A potential deal may see the initial exchange of 33 of Hamas’s captives with hundreds of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons and a Gaza ceasefire that could last between six and seven weeks.
However, during a press briefing with Trump before leaving for Doha last week, Witkoff had allegedly revealed to reporters that mediators were attempting to ink a ceasefire deal that would last 42 days.
