The heads of the Central Intelligence Agency and Israel’s Mossad are meeting in Doha, Qatar, with officials from Arab intelligence services and the Qatari prime minister to vet the options of a longer term cease-fire, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday.

The U.S. confirmed to the Journal and Reuters that CIA Director William Burns is in Doha "for meetings on the Israel-Hamas conflict, including discussions on hostages." Burns is joined by David Barnea, head of Israel's Mossad intelligence service, and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani. Their meeting comes one day after Qatar announced the two-day extension of an original four-day truce deal in Gaza.

While talks currently center on freeing elderly male hostages and soldiers, and the retrieval of dead bodies once women and children are first freed, the focus will turn to a phase that would include concessions to advance what is currently day-to-day truce extensions, the Journal reported.

Egyptian and Qatar officials hope the talks will end the war altogether, according to the Journal.

Qatar, where several political leaders of Hamas are based, has been leading negotiations between the Palestinian militant group and Israel. Egyptian intelligence services are also communicating with Hamas’ leadership.

“We are working to strengthen the Qatari mediation role in reaching a truce and then a permanent cease-fire,” Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said Tuesday.

However, the WSJ reported such a construct would come with hard concessions to Israel, which has vowed to resume its operation to eradicate the Hamas terrorist regime from Gaza.

According to the WSJ, Israel would likely have to:

• Trade thousands of Palestinian prisoners, likely many with ties to Hamas, in exchange for Israeli soldiers.
• Back off its offensive in southern Gaza to kill off the rest of Hamas' leadership.

Hamas, in turn, could be required to accept demilitarization, according to the WSJ report.

Regardless, Arab officials are hoping to move on from the current arrangement that prolongs the truce with every 10 hostages released by Hamas.

"We are trying to build trust and goodwill to open the door for a long-term peace," a senior Egyptian official told the Journal. "It is a longshot but so far both sides have refrained from seeking military advantage during the pause which gives us hopes that it is doable."

Longshot indeed, as Israel's War Cabinet reiterated Tuesday that this conflict will end only when Hamas is eliminated.

"After the cease-fire, the firing will renew. The entire war cabinet is united on this stance," said Israeli minister Benny Gantz, a member of the war cabinet. "There will not be a single place that will be a safe haven for terrorists and the heads of Hamas."

Hamas terrorists have released 50 Israeli women and children — and one Israeli man — hostages over the first four days of the truce. In return, Israel released 150 prisoners from its jails, all women and teenagers. Seventeen Thai hostages, one Filipino, and one American child have also been released.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.

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