US, Israel Spy Chiefs Meet to Vet Lasting Truce Options

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.

READ MORE: US, Israel Spy Chiefs Meet to Vet Lasting Truce Options | Newsmax.com

US border overwhelmed by migrant surges in three states, closing international bridges and causing chaos

Border Patrol forces in California, Texas and Arizona are so overwhelmed by the thousands of migrants surging into the US, they’re having to take drastic measures to deal with them.

Crises have emerged in four areas, according to local sources and Customs and Border Protection (CBP), closing one of the two international bridges at Eagle Pass, Texas, border station to all traffic since Monday afternoon.

Meanwhile, an international crossing at Lukeville, Arizona, was also closed down.

The closures were undertaken “in order to redirect personnel to assist the US Border Patrol with taking migrants into custody,” CBP said.

Elsewhere along the southern border, similar drastic measures were taken to address surges at other hotspots.

The Tuscon Sector, which covers most of the the Arizona-Mexico border, halted its social media accounts Sunday to utilize all its personnel in addressing the “unprecedented flow” of migrants, sector chief John R. Modlin announced.

“All available personnel are needed,” Modlin said, later adding “To be clear, it is my intention to remain transparent.”

Modlin had previously revealed his agents had made 15,300 apprehensions across their border sector in just one week, as well as making three drug busts, capturing 117 lbs. of fentanyl headed for the US.

CBP figures showed 52,000 people had presented themselves at border crossings along the Southwest border for entry into the US in October, a figure far eclipsed by the 189,000 who were encountered attempting to illegally cross into the country between points of entry in the same month.

In California, new barriers are being erected along the banks of a canal north of the border in the San Ysidiro district of San Diego, where migrants have increasingly been staging stampedes into the country.

The barriers stretch along the banks of the Tijuana River where it crosses into the US through a shallow concrete-laid canal, which masses of migrants have been using to swarm across the border in large groups.

Half a mile of fencing is also being erected along the river banks on the Mexican side, according to Border Report.

About 60 miles east in the barren swaths of desert around Jacumba Hot Springs, an “unofficial” border station has cropped up, according to the LA Times, where agents have begun tending an encampment that has become a temporary home for hundreds of migrants from around the world.

At Jacumba, the border fence is interrupted by rocky terrain which leaves gaping openings for migrants to cross through.

So many people have come through the openings CBP has begun posting agents in the area who hand out supplies and organize transfers to official processing centers.

California has become the epicenter of the latest surge of migrants arriving at the border in recent weeks.

Since mid-September alone, over 40,000 migrants have been processed through the San Diego sector, coming from countries as far flung as China, India, Turkey and Romania.

Those towering numbers cap off a record-setting series of months in San Diego.

In the 2023 fiscal year ending on September 30, more than 230,000 migrants crossed along the sector — a 20-year high in the area.

Just two months ago, the crisis was so bad in Eagle Pass, Texas, where two bridges cross the Rio Grande into Mexico, that Bridge 1 was again closed to divert CBP resources to address the more than 10,000 migrants who were arriving in the city daily, according to Border Report.

That closure persisted for almost a month and wrought havoc on the flow of commerce in the city.

At least $500,000 in trade revenue during the closure in September, Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas Jr. said.

Read the rest of the story: Border Patrol overwhelmed by migrant surges in California, Texas and Arizona (nypost.com)