CIA Director Meets Mossad Chief and Qatari PM To Discuss New Hostage Deal

Facts

• CIA Director William Burns traveled to Poland on Monday to meet with the director of Israel's Mossad intelligence service David Barnea and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammad bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in an attempt to formulate a new hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas. Barnea and Al Thani already met on Friday to discuss the possibility of a new deal. The talks come as the Israeli war cabinet comes under increased pressure to release the hostages after the Israeli military admitted on Friday to killing three hostages reportedly holding up a white flag.¹
• US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin arrived in Israel on Monday to discuss Israel's eventual end to the current phase of the war in Gaza and its transition to a more limited, focused conflict. Austin met with Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant and is expected to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Austin, who has become increasingly vocal in his criticisms of Israel's war strategy, has warned that Israel's current bombardment of the strip and high civilian casualties risks radicalizing Gaza's population.²
• While the US pushes for a 'new phase' of the war and for another hostage deal, European countries have also begun to put added pressure on Israel to agree to a ceasefire. On Sunday, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna traveled to Israel, saying in a statement that she would push for a truce that should 'lead to a lasting ceasefire with the aim of releasing all hostages and delivering aid to Gaza.' The UK and Germany also called for a 'sustainable ceasefire,' though they did not say it must be 'immediate.'³
• In Gaza, aid has entered the territory via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel for the first time since Oct. 7, when Hamas launched its deadly surprise attack into southern Israel. The Israeli office for Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories said that a total of 201 aid trucks entered Gaza on Sunday, including 79 through Kerem Shalom. Intense fighting has continued throughout the strip since a temporary ceasefire between Israel and Hamas ended last month, with Israeli ground movements being focused on urban centers in Khan Younis in the south and Gaza City in the north.⁴
• Pope Francis said on Sunday that Israeli attacks in Gaza were killing unarmed civilians, drawing attention to reports that an Israeli sniper on Saturday killed two Christian women inside the Holy Family Parish in Gaza, where Palestinian Christian families have been sheltering since the war began. Seven others were also reportedly wounded. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem also claimed that Israeli tank fire struck the Convent of the Sisters of Mother Theresa. The Israeli military denied the claims.⁵
• Gaza's health ministry reports that the conflict has left nearly 20K people in the Gaza Strip dead, 70% of whom it claims were women and children. The official Israeli death toll stands at 1.2K people and there are still over 100 hostages being held in the Gaza Strip.⁶

Sources: ¹CBS, ²Reuters, ³BBC News, ⁴CNN, ⁵The times of israel and ⁶NBC.

Narratives

• Pro-establishment narrative, as provided by CNN. Though, of course, Israel has a right to dismantle Hamas' military capabilities, it must wage this war in a humane way. The number of civilians being killed will only galvanize Palestinians against peace and push them into the arms of Hamas. A more thorough and surgical campaign is now needed to eliminate Hamas' leadership in Gaza, as Israel is losing global support.
• Pro-Israel narrative, as provided by Jerusalem post. Though this has been a tragic war, Israel cannot allow Hamas to survive. Though it seems that the Biden admin. wants to pressure Israel into a ceasefire, Israel must push back against such short-sighted thinking. Israel is a sovereign country and has the right to defend itself from terrorism and pursue its own interests. Hamas' military capabilities must be eliminated so that the group can never launch a terrorist attack like Oct. 7 again.
• Pro-Palestine narrative, as provided by Middle east eye. Israel continues to demonstrate that its war is not against Hamas but against the Palestinian people as a whole. Nowhere in Gaza is safe, and Israel has effectively rendered the north of the strip unlivable. Israel is killing Palestinians at an unprecedented rate and clearly wants to make the Gaza Strip unlivable. Though the US, Israel's biggest ally, wants to minimize the war's intensity, it must instead exert more pressure to end the war completely.