Israel’s Netanyahu sends Mossad director to Gaza cease-fire talks in sign of progress
LA TimesSmoke rises following recent strikes in the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has approved sending the director of the Mossad foreign intelligence agency to cease-fire negotiations in Qatar, his office said Saturday, in a sign of progress in talks on the war in Gaza. It was not immediately clear when David Barnea would travel to Qatar’s capital, Doha, for the latest round of indirect talks between Israel and the Hamas militant group. Netanyahu’s office said the decision followed a meeting with his defense minister, security chiefs and negotiators “on behalf of the outgoing and incoming U.S. administrations.” Mourners react next to the grave of 23-year-old hostage Hamzah AlZayadni during his funeral in the Bedouin city of Rahat in southern Israel on Friday. Another Israeli airstrike killed at least eight Palestinians, including two children and two women in a school-turned-shelter in northern Gaza, according to the Civil Defense, first responders affiliated with the Hamas-run government.