March 19, 2024 (EIRNS)—Indirect negotiations for hostage/ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas are supposed to have resumed in Doha, but there’s so much pessimism around them that there seems to be no point. A senior Israeli official cited by Hebrew media outlets said that Mossad chief David Barnea was due to hold meetings into the night and would likely return to Israel today, while a negotiating team made up of intelligence officials remains in the Qatari capital to continue the talks, reported the Times of Israel (ToI). As the talks were beginning, an Israeli official told ToI that they were not “optimistic at all.” At the same time, said the official, because of building international and domestic pressures, “we cannot afford to not exhaust this opportunity.”
The prospect of the US slowing the sale of ammunition to Israel is “looming in the background,” said the official, adding that there has never been an explicit threat. “It’s communicated through back channels, more hinted. But it’s something that is happening.”
