US, Israeli negotiators to discuss Gaza ceasefire deal in Doha

By Humeyra Pamuk and Andrew Mills

DOHA (Reuters) - U.S. and Israeli negotiators will gather in Doha in the coming days to try to restart talks toward a deal for a ceasefire and the release of hostages in Gaza, officials said on Thursday.

Qatar and Egypt have acted as mediators between Israel and Hamas in months of talks that broke down in August without an agreement to end fighting that began when the Palestinian militant group launched attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.

David Barnea, the head of its Mossad intelligence agency, would travel to Doha on Sunday, said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office, adding that CIA director William Burns would be present for the talks.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken traveled to the Middle East this week hoping to revive the talks following the death of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who Washington says was the main obstacle to a deal.

"We talked about options to capitalize on this moment and next steps to move the process forward," Blinken told reporters earlier, after talks with Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. "I anticipate that our negotiators will be getting together in the coming days."

Blinken said it had not yet been determined whether Hamas was prepared to engage in new negotiations, but urged the group to do so.

He declined to say who would be present at the Doha talks but said Washington was talking to both Qatari and Egyptian mediators about "different options" for restarting the talks.

"Going back to the negotiations on ceasefire and the hostages, one of the things we're doing is looking at whether there are different options that we can pursue to get us to a conclusion, to get us to a result," Blinken said.

Since killing Sinwar last week, Israel has pressed on with intensive operations in northern Gaza, in what Palestinians and U.N. agencies fear could be an attempt to seal off the north from the rest of the enclave.

Sheikh Mohammed said he expected negotiations to pick up on a proposal discussed in the last round of talks.

Qatari officials have also met with officials in Hamas' political office in Doha in the last couple of days, he said.

"Until now, there is no clarity (on) what will be the way forward," he said.

Hamas has not yet named a successor to Sinwar, who was appointed leader after Israel assassinated the former chief Ismail Haniyeh in July.

Egypt is separately engaged in discussions with Hamas, Sheikh Mohammed said, adding that he hoped those talks will yield something positive.

(Reporting by Humeyra Pamuk and Andrew Mills in Doha; additional reporting by Doina Chiacu in Washington, Nayera Abdallah and Tala Ramadan in Dubai, and Ari Rabinovitch in Jerusalem; writing by Simon Lewis; editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Jonathan Oatis and Diane Craft)