Mossad, Shin Bet chiefs to take part in hostage deal summit on Thursday

Mossad Chief David Barnea will head the Israeli delegation that will participate in a critical round of negotiations to secure the release of the remaining 115 hostages, which takes place as the Middle East is on high alert for a regional war between Israel and Iran.

Barnea will be joined by Shin Bet Chief Ronen Bar and Maj.-Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon. It remains unclear whether Hamas would participate in this latest round of talks, which were first jointly announced by the US, Qatar, and Egypt last Friday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s policy adviser Ophir Falk will also join the delegation.

Qatar and Egypt have been the main mediators for the deal with the help of the United States.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu authorized the delegation's participation in the talks and gave it a mandate to negotiate, his office said on Wednesday afternoon.

Prior to its departure Netanyahu held consultations about the deal from 11 a.m. - 6 p.m. at the Defense Ministry in Tel Aviv prior to the delegations’s departure.

Both Israel and Iran have raised the stakes for an agreement, as the Islamic Republic continues to threaten a reprisal attack against the Jewish State. It claims that the IDF was behind the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran two weeks ago.

Working with a framework for a hostage deal 

The Iranian proxy group Hezbollah in Lebanon is similarly threatening a reprisal attack for the IDF killing of one of its commanders, Fuad Shukr, in Beirut two weeks ago.

The US has hoped that a hostage deal, which would start with a temporary pause to the Gaza war would be transformed into a permanent ceasefire, that would also thwart Iranian and Hezbollah reprisal attacks.

US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the UN Security Council Tuesday night that Washington, along with Cairo and Doha “has worked tirelessly for months to forge the framework agreement on the table, with only the details of implementation to be concluded.”

She noted that the UNSC had endorsed that framework work agreement in June.

“The deal needs to get done now. Now,” Thomas-Greenfield said.

"We have called on both sides to resume urgent discussion on Thursday, August 15 in Doha or Cairo to close all remaining gaps and commence implementation of the deal without further delay.

“As mediators, we are prepared to present a final bridging proposal: one that resolves the remaining implementation issues in a manner that meets the expectations of all parties,” she stated.

A Gaza ceasefire, she said, would also help restore calm along Israel’s northern border, after over ten months of cross-border violence between the IDF and Hezbollah.

Since the Gaza war began on October 7, the US has worked to prevent it from spiraling into a broader regional conflict, she stated, as she referred to the US lead coalition of five armies that defended Israel from a direct Iranian attack on April 13.

“Now, we are once again in a moment of heightened threat,” Thomas-Greenfield stated, adding that the US has taken the precautionary measure of beefing up its forces in the region so that it could “defend Israel” and “US military personnel” against any threats.

“A broader regional conflict,” however, ‘is not inevitable,” Thomas-Greenfield stated.

Preventing one, “starts with finalizing a deal for an immediate ceasefire with hostage release in Gaza. We need to get this over the finish line,” she stated.