Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer, a longtime confidant of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, will lead talks on phase two of the hostage release-ceasefire deal with Hamas, according to Hebrew media reports on Tuesday.

Mossad chief David Barnea has led previous rounds.

Netanyahu pushed aside Barnea, Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, and IDF hostage point man Nitzan Alon, with whom he has sparred throughout the negotiations. The security chiefs have long felt that a deal could and should have been reached earlier but that political considerations in Israel hampered those efforts.

Bar revealed in a recent conversation that he is no longer part of Israel’s hostage negotiating team, the Kan public broadcaster reported. His apparent ouster follows reports that Netanyahu is looking to fire him entirely.

Barnea and Bar were also not invited to a crucial security discussion in Netanyahu’s office on Tuesday evening, Channel 13 reported, as Israel’s leadership formulates its position on talks regarding phase two.

An Israeli official told the Times of Israel that Netanyshu has not yet given approval for an Israeli negotiating team to head to Qatar for the talks.

Yet momentum is slowly building, with US pressure. Dermer is slated to meet US special envoy Steve Witkoff to discuss the second phase in the coming days, the Walla news site reported.

Channel 12 reported that some of........

© The Times of Israel