Shin Bet veteran confirms he held talks with Hamas’s Hamad; political echelon approved

Adi Rotem, a veteran of Israel's Shin Bet security agency, has confirmed that he held talks with Hamas's Hamad. According to Rotem, the talks were initiated because mediator Qatar was seen as acting in bad faith, and previous discussions were going in circles. The talks were approved by the political echelon.

The confirmation of the talks comes after a separate incident involving the evacuation of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's son, Yair, from Florida to Israel under heavy security. According to the Jerusalem Post, Shin Bet confirmed an Iranian threat against Yair Netanyahu, stating that there was a significant threat to harm him. The threat was reportedly discovered in December, and Iranian operatives were allegedly on the ground in the Miami area, conducting surveillance on Yair's residence and movements.

Yair Netanyahu was urgently extracted from Florida back to Israel, accompanied by his security team. The incident was first reported on the Newsmax website, citing a US law enforcement source familiar with the threat.

Brief written by urgent.news from The Times of Israel, Arutz Sheva - Israel National News, Jerusalem Post — 3 reports on this story. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.