The captives remain ‘a top priority of President Biden,’ National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said.
By JNS
Negotiations between Israel and Hamas for a hostages-for-ceasefire-and-terrorists-release deal have yet to resume since Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s Oct. 16 death, U.S. National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said on Monday.
“I cannot sit here today and tell you that negotiations are about to restart in Doha or Cairo, or anywhere else for that matter,” Kirby told reporters at a virtual briefing, adding that “we have started to begin to think about it here and had some initial conversations with our Israeli counterparts, as you would expect we would, in the wake of that truly historic news.
“We have certainly expressed, as the president did publicly, our strong desire to see what can be done to find a diplomatic path forward here to get the hostages home,” the senior White House official said.
The captives remain “a top priority of President Biden. The Israelis understand that that remains a top priority of the president,” he added.
Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet) chief Ronen Bar visited Cairo on Sunday in an attempt to revive the talks.
Bar, according to the Ynet, held an introductory meeting with Egyptian intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Hassan Mahmoud Rashad, who assumed the position last week, replacing Abbas Kamel, who had led Cairo’s powerful General Intelligence Directorate since June 2018.
Ahead of a meeting of the Security Cabinet on Sunday night, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant met with senior security officials to discuss prospects for the release of the hostages from Hamas captivity.
Gallant was joined by Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Herzi Halevi; IDF Missing and Captive Soldiers Division head Maj. Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon; and Military Intelligence Directorate chief Maj. Gen. Shlomi Binder, as well as other officials, his office said in a statement.
Five hostages
During the subsequent Cabinet meeting, government ministers were reportedly informed of an initial proposal for Hamas to release five hostages in return for a two-week cessation of hostilities in Gaza.
The Cabinet was said to have tasked Strategic Affairs Minister Ron Dermer with formulating a detailed response to the new proposal, with some ministers voicing reservations to a deal as the IDF’s campaign against Hamas is gaining momentum in the wake of Sinwar’s death.
Ministers opposing the proposal, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, reportedly also expressed concerns about international and domestic pressure to end the war while allowing Hamas to recover its power.
Sinwar, the mastermind of the Oct. 7, 2023, massacre in southern Israel, survived for more than a year until Israeli forces killed him during an encounter in Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah on Oct. 16.
During a phone call between U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the next day, the two leaders “agreed that there is an opportunity to advance the release of the hostages and [to] work together to achieve this objective,” according to Jerusalem.
The Wall Street Journal, citing documents discovered by IDF soldiers in Gaza, said on Sunday that Sinwar believed he had the upper hand in negotiations due to American and domestic pressure on Netanyahu.
In a message to Hamas officials dated March, Sinwar urged negotiators to refuse a deal, citing internal political divisions within the Jewish state, discord in Netanyahu’s wartime government and mounting pressure from the Biden administration to address humanitarian concerns.
In September, Sinwar began preparing for his possible death, advising fellow terrorists that while Jerusalem would likely offer concessions to end the war after he was gone, Hamas would be in a stronger position.
Sinwar said the terrorist group was likely to face pressure to compromise but shouldn’t, according to Arab mediators who spoke with the Journal.
Roughly 1,200 Israelis were murdered on Oct. 7, with thousands more wounded and some 251 others taken into the Gaza Strip. One hundred and one hostages, both living and dead, are still being held by Hamas.