WASHINGTON, Feb 22 : US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director William Burns will be meeting Israeli, Qatari, and Egyptian officials in Paris this week to discuss a potential deal to release hostages taken by Hamas during its October 7 attack on Israel, Axios reported, citing an Israeli official in the know.
Burns is expected to travel to Paris on Friday in a bid to secure another hostage deal before the beginning of Ramadan while major gaps between Israel and Hamas remain, the report said on Wednesday.
The Biden administration has indicated that it wants to see a six-week ceasefire as part of the hostage deal between Israel and Hamas.
A delegation of senior Hamas officials arrived in Cairo on Tuesday for talks with Egyptian intelligence officials regarding the potential deal, and President Biden’s top Middle East adviser Brett McGurk later met the director of the Egyptian intelligence service Abbas Kamel, the report said.
State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said on Tuesday that the United States wants Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement on a humanitarian pause before the Islamic holy month of Ramadan begins.
Ramadan begins on March 10. Observance of Ramadan through acts such as fasting and prayer is considered a fundamental practice of Islam. (UNI)
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