Talks between US and Israeli intelligence agencies in Qatar, the main mediator, are addressing the issue of prisoners held in Gaza.

The heads of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and Israel’s Mossad met in Qatar to discuss the matter Extension of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas and the prisoners held by the Palestinian group in Gaza.

CIA Director William Burns and David Barnea, head of the Mossad intelligence agency, held talks with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on Tuesday, a day after Doha announced one two day extension of an original four-day humanitarian break in Gaza, which was due to expire.

“We have to read a little between the lines here: [The intelligence chiefs were] “That was important at the last meeting on November 9th. We believe this was one of the milestones that led us to the first four-day deal,” said Al Jazeera diplomatic editor James Bays.

“The fact that intelligence chiefs are sitting here with the Qatari prime minister, who is also foreign minister, is interesting because they have the image of the intelligence agency. But I also think it’s interesting, in part because of the person the U.S. has put in charge of leading this effort,” he said, adding that Burns ““A more experienced negotiator than Antony Blinken,” the US Secretary of State.

Both Israel and Hamas have accused each other of violating the original ceasefire. But they continue to exchange prisoner for prisoner. Hamas has released prisoners in its custody, and another 12 were released on Tuesday.

Our teams successfully facilitated the release and transfer of twelve hostages held in Gaza.

Thanks to our neutral intermediary role, we were able to carry out this operation.

— ICRC in Israel and OT (@ICRC_ilot) November 28, 2023

Majed al-Ansari, a spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, said in a post on X that 30 Palestinian prisoners should be released.

On Monday, mediator Qatar said a humanitarian pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas would be extended by two days, hours before the original four-day ceasefire in Gaza was set to expire.

Qatar, the USA and Egypt have been intensively involved Negotiations to establish and extend the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

During the first break, Hamas released 69 prisoners – 51 Israelis and 18 people from other nations.

In return 150 Palestinian prisoners117 children and 33 women held in Israeli prisons were released and more humanitarian aid was allowed into Gaza.

Egyptian officials also took part in the talks between the intelligence chiefs of the US, Israel and Qatar.

“Is there a way to deal with the central problem, which is maintaining this? [current truce] at the same time that Israel wants to eliminate Hamas?” asked Bays.

“From the information on the ground we know nothing, but one possibility that some suggest is that perhaps an agreement could be reached to convince Hamas’ military leadership to go into exile in another country,” he said he.

“This is certainly not what we are hearing from Israeli media sources; The latest we hear from them is that the Israeli government does not want an extension for a total of 10 days until the end of Sunday,” Bays said.

Meanwhile, far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow soldiers to return to fighting in Gaza to “smash Hamas,” as he responded to an army statement that two Three explosive devices were detonated near troops in the northern Gaza Strip.

“We cannot wait for our fighters to be killed. “We must once again act in accordance with the goal of the war: the complete destruction of Hamas,” the minister posted on X.