Mossad chief David Barnea (left) met with CIA chief William Burns yesterday, Friday (agencies)

Israel announced - on Saturday - that the head of its foreign intelligence service (Mossad) met with his American counterpart as part of efforts to secure the release of prisoners detained in Gaza, while reports indicated disagreements between the political and professional levels that caused the negotiations to falter.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said - in a statement - that "Mossad Chief David Barnea met yesterday (Friday) with CIA Director William Burns as part of ongoing efforts to reach a new agreement to release the hostages."

The statement added that Israel is still communicating with mediators with the aim of reaching an agreement.

He added, "At this stage, Hamas is strengthening its positions," claiming that the movement does not seem interested in a deal and is seeking to ignite the region during the month of Ramadan, at the expense of the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip.

While the statement from Netanyahu's office or the official broadcasting authority did not mention the place where Barnea and Burns met, the Israeli Walla website indicated that they met in the city of Aqaba in Jordan.

This comes as Israeli Channel 12 said that there were reports indicating disagreements between the political and professional levels that caused negotiations to release the prisoners to falter.

Hamas adheres to its conditions

On the other hand, Reuters quoted a source in the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) as saying that it was "unlikely" that a delegation from the movement would make another visit to Cairo at the beginning of this week to hold talks.

Hamas blamed Israel for the lack of progress, which refuses to provide guarantees to end the war or withdraw forces from the Gaza Strip.

Yesterday, Friday, Abu Ubaida, spokesman for the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades - the military wing of the Hamas movement - said that the occupation government uses deception and evasion in negotiations and is characterized by confusion and confusion, stressing that the resistance’s highest priority for achieving a prisoner exchange is a full commitment to completely stopping the aggression and its consequences. From the withdrawal of the occupation forces, the return of the displaced, and reconstruction.

Abu Ubaida addressed the families of the occupation prisoners in Gaza, saying that if they are concerned about the lives of their relatives, they must know that their government and their war council are manipulating the lives of their children and insisting on “receiving them in coffins,” as he put it, adding: “The ball is in their court to save whoever of them can be saved.”

Qatar and Egypt, with the help of the United States, are mediating between Hamas and Israel in order to reach a new ceasefire agreement in Gaza and the exchange of prisoners before the month of Ramadan, but the negotiations have not yielded results so far.

On Friday, US President Joe Biden acknowledged the difficulty of reaching a ceasefire before Ramadan.

Israel estimates that there are more than 125 prisoners in Gaza, while it holds at least 8,800 Palestinians in its prisons, according to official sources from both sides.

A truce previously prevailed between Hamas and Israel for a week from November 24 until December 1, 2023, during which a ceasefire took place, a prisoner exchange took place, and very limited humanitarian aid was brought into Gaza, with Qatari-Egyptian-American mediation.

Since October 7, 2023, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip that has left tens of thousands of civilians martyred and wounded, most of them children and women, in addition to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and massive destruction of infrastructure, which led to Tel Aviv appearing before the International Court of Justice on charges of genocide. Collective.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies