• Islamic Jihad ready to free two Israelis
• Turkiye set to assume guarantor role

DOHA: The CIA and Mossad chiefs met with the Qatari prime minister in Doha on Thursday to discuss the parameters of a deal for prisoner releases and a pause in Israeli aggression in the Gaza Strip, a source briefed on the meeting.

According to Reuters, the Palestinian group Islamic Jihad announced that they are ready to release two Israeli prisoners, a woman and a boy, for humanitarian and medical reasons, a spokesperson for the Al Quds Brigades said in a recorded message. He added that the initiative would take place once appropriate measures are met.

David Barnea, head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence service, CIA Director William Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani held the meeting after Qatari mediators met officials from the Hamas political office on Wednesday night and discussed potential parameters of a deal.

The advantage of the trilateral meeting was to bring all three parties together at one table in real-time to speed up the process, the source said.

The talks also included a discussion about allowing humanitarian imports of fuel into Gaza, so far refused by Israel lest.

A source said on Wednesday the talks touched on a release of 10-15 prisoners in exchange for a one- to two-day humanitarian pause in the unrest that is devastating Gaza.

Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani later on Thursday arrived in the United Arab Emirates capital, Abu Dhabi, where he met Emirati President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, according to a statement by the Emiri Diwan.

Sheikh Tamim was accompanied by the Qatari prime minister.

The statement said the purpose of the visit was to discuss the situation in Gaza. Unlike Qatar, the UAE has had diplomatic relations with Israel since a US-brokered normalisation agreement in 2020.

In addition, President Tayyip Erdogan told his Iranian counterpart Ibrahim Raisi that Ankara was ready to assume guarantor role to resolve ongoing crisis, Turkish presidency said on Thursday.

Erdogan and Raisi met on the sidelines of a summit of Economic Cooperation Organisation in Uzbekistan’s capital Tashkent, according to a statement of the Turkish presidency.

Meanwhile, Indonesian leader Joko Widodo said he would convey to United States President Joe Biden in their meeting on Monday that the ongoing unrest in the Middle East should be stopped. “I will be delegated to tell President Joe Biden that the Hamas-Israel war should immediately be stopped,” he said, declining to provide further details.

Indonesia has joined many countries in calling for an immediate ceasefire and has sent humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Published in Dawn, November 10th, 2023