Israeli intelligence agency Mossad said on Saturday, March 9, that despite dwindling prospects for a truce during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, efforts are still underway to negotiate an agreement on a Gaza ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

According to Reuters, Mossad said in a statement that David Barnea, head of the agency, met with William Burns, director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), on Friday, March 8, to discuss possible negotiations for the release of captives.

Released by the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the statement reads: "Contacts and cooperation with the mediators continue all the time in an effort to narrow the gaps and reach agreements."

Palestinians gather in front of a residential building hit in an overnight Israeli air strike in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on March 9, 2024, amid continuing battles between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. (Photo: YASSER QUDIHE / Middle East Images / AFP via Getty Images)

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Pointing Fingers

The Palestinian enclave's governing militant Islamist party, Hamas and Israel, have both pointed fingers at one other for the apparent impasse in negotiations leading up to Ramadan, which starts on Sunday, March 10.

Since January, the United States, Qatar, and Egypt have been mediating the ceasefire talks. During the most recent agreement, which took place in November 2023, there was a weeklong truce in combat.

During that period, about a hundred hostages were released by Hamas, while around three times as many Palestinian detainees were liberated by Israel.

Since Israel denies any assurances to halt the conflict or withdraw its soldiers from the enclave, Hamas claims that Israel is to blame for the deadlock in talks for an extended truce and the release of the 134 hostages who are supposedly still detained in Gaza.

Netanyahu reportedly also said that Israel would not cave to international pressure to delay an assault on Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, and will instead push its brutal onslaught against Hamas.

Meanwhile, according to Mossad, Hamas is determined to prolong the conflict in the area until Ramadan.

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