The office of the Israeli occupation Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said in a statement on Sunday night, commenting on the Paris meeting held today regarding a new deal between Israel and the Palestinian “Islamic Resistance Movement” (Hamas), through mediators, that the meeting “was constructive, but the gaps are big".

The statement said: “The intelligence summit in Europe ended a short while ago, with the participation of Mossad head Dedi Barnea, Shin Bet head Ronen Bar, and reserve general Nitzan Alon, with the head of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), William Burns, and the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.” The Qatari, Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman bin Jassim Al Thani, and the head of Egyptian intelligence, Abbas Kamel.” While the statement described the meeting by saying: “It was a constructive meeting... There are still large gaps that the parties will continue to discuss this week in additional meetings.”

Representatives of the four countries are holding talks with the French authorities, with the aim of moving towards an agreement that includes a truce in the fighting and the release of hostages held by the Hamas movement.

For its part, the newspaper "Haaretz" quoted an unnamed Israeli official as saying that the meeting witnessed "the beginning of progress," as "it was a positive meeting, but it is still too early to know whether it will form the basis for a deal."

The Hebrew Channel 12 quoted an unnamed political official as saying: “There is progress in communications to move the negotiations forward,” adding that the goal was “to reach a unified formula among the participating parties, upon which the participants can build their discussions for a new deal.”

It added that the Israeli War Council (War Cabinet) will meet tomorrow, Monday, to discuss the continuation of negotiations on the deal.

Source: Al-Arabi Al-Jadeed