CIA director to meet Netanyahu in Jerusalem to discuss cease-fire, prisoners swap

ANKARA

CIA Director William Burns will meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu amid negotiations on a cease-fire and prisoners swap between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

Citing an Israeli official, The Times of Israel reported that the meeting will take place Monday afternoon in Jerusalem.

Burns’ visit comes on the day the Israeli army began evacuating some neighborhoods in Rafah, where approximately 1.5 million displaced Palestinians have taken refuge in the southern Gaza Strip, despite opposition by the international community, especially the US.

Burns arrived in Cairo on May 3 for meetings with Egyptian officials regarding the talks to reach a cease-fire in Gaza.

A previous deal last November saw the release of 81 Israelis and 24 foreigners in exchange for 240 Palestinians, including 71 women and 169 children.

The US, Qatar, and Egypt have tried to broker an agreement to release the remaining Israeli captives.

A new cease-fire and prisoner swap deal being brokered by Egypt and Qatar is being discussed in Cairo.

Israel says it will not send a delegation to Cairo and end the war until Hamas responds to the cease-fire proposal.

According to Israeli authorities, there are more than 130 Israeli prisoners in the Gaza Strip, some alive and some dead.

For its part, Hamas is demanding assurances that any prisoner swap deal will include a permanent cease-fire ending the war in Gaza.

Early Sunday, Netanyahu rejected calls to end Israel’s Gaza offensive in return for a hostage swap deal with Hamas, claiming that ending the war now would keep the Palestinian group in power.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh accused Netanyahu of undermining efforts to reach a cease-fire deal in the Gaza Strip.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a cross-border attack on Oct. 7 last year by Hamas, which killed about 1,200 people. Nearly 34,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and 78,000 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Nearly seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is “plausible” that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians there.

*Writing by Serdar Dincel from Istanbul

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