Current:Home > FinanceCIA Director William Burns to travel to Europe for fourth round of Gaza hostage talks -Visionary Growth Labs
CIA Director William Burns to travel to Europe for fourth round of Gaza hostage talks
View
Date:2025-04-12 12:31:08
CIA Director William Burns will soon travel to Europe for a fourth round of multiparty talks aimed at brokering a broadened deal to release the more than 100 hostages still being held in Gaza, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to CBS News on Thursday.
Burns is expected to meet in France with David Barnea, the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency, and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the source said. Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel is also involved. All four have engaged in previous rounds of negotiations aimed at freeing hostages in exchange for a cessation of hostilities, a principal demand by Hamas.
Six male U.S. citizens are believed to be among those still being held hostage in Gaza. Hamas took hundreds of people hostage during its attacks across Israel on Oct. 7.
The CIA declined to comment on Burns' travel schedule, which is classified. The director traveled to Doha twice in November and to Warsaw in December as part of an effort to secure the release of the remaining hostages.
The latest talks follow meetings this month between the National Security Council's Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk and senior Egyptian and Qatari officials, part of a diplomatic push by Washington and Doha to get Israel and Hamas to negotiate a deal. The effort coincides with a Biden administration push for Israel to wind down its intense military operations in Gaza.
The family members of the six remaining Israeli-American hostages also met with several Biden advisers on Jan. 18 in Washington. In a statement marking 100 days of the Israel-Hamas war, President Biden said the U.S. "will never stop working to bring Americans home."
On Sunday, as news broke of McGurk's latest diplomatic push, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu released a scathing statement saying that Israel rejected Hamas' terms for a release because they included an end to the war.
"Hamas is demanding, in exchange for the release of our hostages, the end of the war, the withdrawal of our forces from Gaza, the release of the murderers and rapists of the Nukhba and leaving Hamas in place," he said. "I am not prepared to accept such a mortal blow to the security of Israel; therefore, we will not agree to this."
Netanyahu's government has faced domestic political pressure from the hostages' families, who continue to campaign for the release of their loved ones as Israel's military campaign continues in the 25-mile-long Palestinian enclave.
Netanyahu's public position has been that military force will ultimately get Hamas to capitulate and agree to release the hostages. However, a divide within the war cabinet recently spilled out into public when Gadi Eisenkot, a former general, told an Israeli TV outlet that it would be impossible to secure the safe return of the hostages without a diplomatic agreement.
A source familiar with the negotiations over the hostages said Netanyahu's opposition was an impediment to reaching an agreement. The Israeli embassy did not have immediate comment.
The attempts to broker a diplomatic deal have been at an impasse since an initial breakthrough in November led by the U.S. and Qatar that resulted in the release of more than 100 hostages and more than 200 Palestinian prisoners.
Tensions between Israel and Qatar were recently heightened after leaked audio surfaced of Netanyahu talking down Doha's efforts while in conversation with Israeli hostage families.
Margaret BrennanMargaret Brennan is moderator of CBS News' "Face The Nation" and CBS News' senior foreign affairs correspondent based in Washington, D.C.
veryGood! (95635)
Related
- Opinion: Gianni Infantino, FIFA sell souls and 2034 World Cup for Saudi Arabia's billions
- Jewell Loyd scores a season-high 34 points as Storm cool off Caitlin Clark and Fever 89-77
- Prosecutors rest in seventh week of Sen. Bob Menendez’s bribery trial
- Pair of giant pandas from China arrive safely at San Diego Zoo
- Bodycam footage shows high
- Two Texas jail guards are indicted by a county grand jury in the asphyxiation death of an inmate
- Faced with the opportunity to hit Trump on abortion rights, Biden falters
- Whose fault is inflation? Trump and Biden blame each other in heated debate
- EU countries double down on a halt to Syrian asylum claims but will not yet send people back
- New Jersey to hold hearing on 2 Trump golf course liquor licenses following felony convictions
Ranking
- Head of the Federal Aviation Administration to resign, allowing Trump to pick his successor
- Warren Buffett donates again to the Gates Foundation but will cut the charity off after his death
- Biden struggles early in presidential debate with hoarse voice
- Amazon is reviewing whether Perplexity AI improperly scraped online content
- Federal court filings allege official committed perjury in lawsuit tied to Louisiana grain terminal
- Nigel Farage criticizes racist remarks by Reform UK worker. But he later called it a ‘stitch-up’
- Nicole Scherzinger Explains Why Being in the Pussycat Dolls Was “Such a Difficult Time
- Celebrate With Target’s 4th of July Deals on Red, White, and *Cute* Styles, Plus 50% off Patio Furniture
Recommendation
What were Tom Selleck's juicy final 'Blue Bloods' words in Reagan family
FDA says new study proves pasteurization process kills bird flu in milk after all
As AI gains a workplace foothold, states are trying to make sure workers don’t get left behind
Video shows a meteotsunami slamming Lake Michigan amid days of severe weather. Here's what to know.
Don't let hackers fool you with a 'scam
Wimbledon draw: Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz in same bracket; Iga Swiatek No. 1
Frank Bensel Jr. makes holes-in-one on back-to-back shots at the U.S. Senior Open
Orlando Cepeda, the slugging Hall of Fame first baseman nicknamed `Baby Bull,’ dies at 86
Like
- Why Sean "Diddy" Combs Is Being Given a Laptop in Jail Amid Witness Intimidation Fears
- Q&A: The First Presidential Debate Hardly Mentioned Environmental Issues, Despite Stark Differences Between the Candidate’s Records
- Trial judges dismiss North Carolina redistricting lawsuit over right to ‘fair elections’