Israel agrees to resume hostage deal talks with Hamas next week

Jerusalem, May 26: Israel has agreed to renew talks with Hamas on a hostage deal next week, with the mediation of Egypt, Qatar and the US, Israel's state-owned Kan TV reported on Saturday.

According to the report, at a meeting in Paris on Friday, David Barnea, the chief of the Israeli Mossad intelligence agency, presented a new proposal approved by the Israeli war cabinet to William Burns, director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.

An Israeli government official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that Barnea had returned to Israel on Saturday morning following his meeting with William Burns and Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani in Paris, Xinhua news agency reported.

The official told Xinhua that the three officials discussed the basis for continuing negotiations next week under the new proposals put forward by Egypt and Qatar, with the participation of the United States.

Kan TV reported that Burns had offered potential solutions to the contentious issues that had stalled previous negotiations, adding that the upcoming talks will be led by Egypt and Qatar, with active involvement from the United States.

The previous round of ceasefire negotiations in the Gaza Strip, which took place in Egypt, collapsed earlier this month.