The location at an overview: Report: Mossad boss negotiates hostage in Qatar

According to media reports, the head of the Israeli foreign intelligence agency Mossad has traveled to Qatar for negotiations on the release of the hostages recorded in the Gaza Strip. David Barnea will come together with Prime Minister Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, reported the newspaper “Jerusalem Post”. Together with Egypt, Qatar conveys in the indirect conversations between Israel and Islamist Hamas about a new ceasefire and the release of the hostages captured in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli government wants to free ten hostages in exchange for a 45-day break. The Islamist Hamas, on the other hand, has made it clear not to agree to any temporary ceasefire, but only a final end of the war. According to Israeli information, there are currently 24 living hostages and 35 corpses of abducted in Gaza.

Israel wants to force Hamas militarily to release the hostages

Meanwhile, the Israeli armed forces threatened with a military escalation in the Gaza Strip if further hostages should not be released. “If we do not see any progress in the return of the hostages, we will expand our activities to a more intensive and significant operation until we come to a decisive result,” said the Israeli armed forces general staff, Ejal Zamir, according to military information in the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.

“Hamas is wrong about our skills, our intentions and our determination,” he said with a view to the Islamist terrorist organization in the Gaza Strip. Defense Minister Israel Katz had recently said that the longer the Hamas refrain from releasing the hostages. Katz also threatened to take parts of the Gaza Strip permanently. Israel wants to increase the pressure on Hamas to relieve the remaining hostages.

Barnea’s trip to Qatar could mean the return of the Mossad boss to the top of the Israeli negotiation team, reported the “Times of Israel”. Most recently, the Minister for Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, had the negotiations. However, relatives of hostages accused the close confidante of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to block an agreement and not to drive the talks enough.

UN aid work: flour reserves used up in the Gaza Strip

Due to the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, the UN Palestinian Aid (UNRWA) can hardly distribute food in the sealed area. The flour reserves are completely empty, said Unrwa. In addition, the aid organization has only over 250 food packages with rice, lentils, beans, oil and canned fish, which a family of five can eat for about two weeks. According to Unrwa boss Philippe Lazzarini, almost 3,000 trucks are currently available to deliver urgently needed auxiliary goods in the Gaza Strip.

However, according to the relief organization, the Israeli military has no longer left goods in the sealed coastal strips since the beginning of March. “The hunger spreads and intensifies, caused intentionally and by humans,” wrote Unrwa boss Lazzarini on X. “The Gaza Strip has become a country of despair.” According to the World Food Program (WFP), the prices for food increased by up to 700 percent compared to the time before the Gaza War.

Abbas successor: Plo decides to create a vice post

In view of the need to find a successor to the 89-year-old Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, he should have a deputy in the future. The Central Council of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) decided to introduce the office of Vice President for the first time, as the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

If Abbas should die, the Vice President would take over. A choice would then not be necessary, according to the logic. Abbas, whose government in fact only controls the Palestinian areas in West Bank, is extremely unpopular among the population. Compared to the Islamist Hamas in the Gaza Strip, he and his PLO are considered to be much more moderate.