Israeli security chief secretly visits Turkey in bid to reboot hostage talks – report

Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar reportedly visited Turkey, meeting with his Turkish counterpart in an effort to pressure Hamas to return to the negotiating table.

By World Israel News Staff

The head of Israel’s internal security agency made a clandestine trip to Turkey over the weekend, Israeli media outlets reported Tuesday, in an effort to reboot hostage and ceasefire deal talks with Hamas.

According to reports by Walla and Yedioth Aharanoth on Tuesday morning, Ronen Bar, director of the Shin Bet agency, flew to Turkey over the weekend to meet with Ibrahim Kalin, head of Turkish intelligence agency Millî İstihbarat Teşkilatı (MIT).

The meeting came after Hamas’ senior leaders were forced to relocate from Doha, Qatar, where they had been hosted for a decade, to Turkey.

An Israeli official speaking on condition of anonymity was cited by Yedioth Aharanoth as saying that Bar’s trip to Turkey was part of a larger Israeli effort to encourage foreign powers to exert pressure on Hamas to return to the negotiating table and to compromise on its long-standing demands.

Israel is not seeking, the official added, to bring in Ankara to replace Doha as primary mediator in the hostage deal talks.

Instead, Egypt, which has hitherto served in a lesser capacity to facilitate talks, is expected to become the primary interlocuter.

At least one Turkish diplomat downplayed claims that Turkey has become the permanent host of Hamas’ leadership, saying the presence of senior Hamas members in the country was temporary.

“Members of Hamas’ political branch visit Turkey from time to time. Claims that Hamas moved its offices to Turkey do not reflect reality,” the official said, according to Yedioth Aharanoth.

Turkish-Israeli relations have grown increasingly hostile since Hamas’ October 7th, 2023 invasion of Israel, and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s hostile rhetoric towards Israel and its war against Hamas.

Over the weekend, Azerbaijani media outlets reported that Turkey had refused to grant safe passage to Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s plane en route to the COP29 climate change conference in Baku.