Israel appeared to confirm that new negotiations are under way to recover hostages held by Hamas, after a source told Reuters that Israel’s intelligence chief met the prime minister of Qatar, a country mediating in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“The instruction I am giving the negotiating team is predicated on this pressure, without which we have nothing,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a press conference yesterday.

Netanyahu sidestepped a question about the meeting but confirmed he had given instructions to the negotiating team.

“We have serious criticisms of Qatar,” he said, alluding to the gas-rich Gulf state’s ties to Hamas and Israel’s arch-foe Iran. “But right now we are trying to complete the recovery of our hostages.”