Israeli negotiating team leaves Qatar as talks hit 'dead end'

Israel's Mossad intelligence services asked its negotiating team to return from Qatar, saying talks over a new prisoner swap and truce deal have reached a "dead end".

"Due to the dead end in negotiations, and following instructions from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mossad head David Barnea ordered the negotiating team in Doha to return home," a statement from Netanyahu's office, issued on behalf of the spy agency, said.

The statement added that Hamas had not "fulfilled its obligations under the agreement".

The negotiating team arrived in Qatar only a few hours earlier on Saturday.