Update(1730ET): Amid the expanding ground operation which has seen Israeli tanks positioned outside of Gaza City and heavy firefights with Hamas militants erupt, Axios has revealed that the head of Mossad, David Barnea, made a secretive weekend trip to Qatar where he met with senior Qatari officials as part of mediation efforts to secure the release of Israeli and foreign hostages. 

According to the latest update, over 235 are in Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) captivity, and Qatar remains the chief third party communicating with both Tel Aviv and Hamas. But Israeli officials have described that the ground offensive was launched after it became clear that the talks had born no fruit. Barnea was in Doha as the ground invasion kicked off and progressed. According to the Israeli side's conclusions reached as a result of the meetings, per Axios: 

Israel made the decision [to invade] in part because Hamas refused to give Israel via Qatar a list of names of all the hostages it is holding, the officials said.

Hamas told the Qatari officials it is still in the process of finding out where all the hostages are located and their identities. But the feeling in Jerusalem was that this was just a tactic to buy time and prevent an Israeli ground operation, the Israeli officials said.

On Monday the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) made the unexpected announcement that one hostage, a military member who had been taken on Oct.7, has been rescued alive from the battlefield...