CIA chief heading to Cairo for hostage talks: US media
CIA Director Bill Burns will travel to the Egyptian capital Cairo this weekend for talks on freeing hostages held in Gaza, US media said on Friday. Burns will meet Mossad chief David Barnea as well as officials from Egypt and Qatar, The New York Times reported. Axios identified those officials as Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Egypt's intelligence chief Abbas Kamel. Hamas launched a shock attack on October 7 attack that resulted in the deaths of about 1,170 Israelis and foreigners, mostly civilians, according to a tally based on Israeli official figures. Palestinian militants also took around 250 hostages, about 130 of whom remain in Gaza, including 34 whom the Israeli army says are dead. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed over 33,000 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza. The United States, Qatar and Egypt have been engaged in weeks of behind-the-scenes talks in a bid to secure a truce in the Gaza Strip and the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails. (AFP)