The Gaza cease-fire talks hit a barrier on Saturday after the Israeli delegation refused to withdraw troops from the territory and repatriate displaced Palestinians to their homes in northern Gaza "without conditions."
U.S. intelligence chief Bill Burns and his Israeli counterpart David Barnea then left Qatar late Saturday, a source briefed on the talks told the Agence France-Presse (AFP).
The CIA and Mossad chiefs "departed Doha to brief their respective teams back home on the latest round" of talks, the source said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions.
"The talks focused on details and a ratio for the exchange of hostages and prisoners," the knowledgeable source added, explaining that "technical teams remain in Doha."
According to Private Israeli broadcaster Channel 12, the speculated that the return might indicate a lack of progress in talks.
During discussions in Doha, the delegation stipulated that in the first stage of an exchange deal, 40 hostages from all categories should be released alive, according to the channel.
Israel proposed a limited return of 2,000 displaced Palestinians daily to northern Gaza, two weeks after a cease-fire would start.
The channel noted the rejection by the delegation, led by Mossad chief Barnea, of a request by Hamas to release 30 Palestinian prisoners sentenced to life, in exchange for every female soldier. The delegation offered five in return for their release.
According to Channel 12, as part of talks in the Qatari capital, Israel demanded the return of the bodies of Hadar Goldin and Oron Shaul, who were captured in Gaza in 2014, in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners who were released in a deal in 2011 for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit and were rearrested.
Israel holds in its prisons at least 9,100 Palestinians, according to Palestinian official sources while the number of Israeli hostages held in Gaza remains unclear due to Hamas' refusal to disclose the figure "without a hefty price."
While Israeli media speaks of between 240 and 253 Israeli hostages, including 105 released by Hamas during an exchange deal last November, the Palestinian resistance movement says 70 others died in indiscriminate Israeli shelling.
U.S., Qatari and Egyptian mediators have been engaged in weeks of behind-the-scenes talks in efforts to secure a second truce in the war between Israel and Hamas and the release of captives in exchange for Palestinian prisoners being held in Israeli jails.
Israel has killed over 32,000 Palestinians in its ongoing Gaza war, launched after the Oct. 7 Hamas Incursion killed around 1,160 people.
Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the U.N.
Israel is accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.