The
White House said Friday that cease-fire talks in Cairo have been constructive
and will continue over the weekend as the U.S. and Mideast allies continue to press
Israel and Hamas to forge an agreement.
CIA
Director William Burns and Brett McGurk, a senior adviser on the Middle East to
President Joe Biden, are leading the U.S. side of negotiations that began on
Thursday amid major differences between Israel and Hamas over Israel’s
insistence that it maintain forces in two strategic corridors in Gaza.
“There
has been progress made,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby
said, “We need now for both sides to come together and work towards
implementation.”
Kirby
did not detail where progress had been made, but he did insist that there’s
been momentum in the conversations among the mediators from the U.S., Israel
and Hamas’ interlocutors Egypt and Qatar.
Biden
took a break from his family vacation in Santa Ynez Valley, California, on
Friday to call Qatar’s emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, and Egyptian
President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi to discuss developments in the negotiations.
Diplomatic
efforts have redoubled as fears grow of a wider regional war after the recent
targeted killings of leaders of the militant Hamas and Hezbollah groups, both
blamed on Israel, and threats of retaliation.
Israel
and Hamas have been at loggerheads over the Philadelphi corridor alongside
Gaza’s border with Egypt and the Netzarim east-west corridor across the
territory. Hamas is demanding a complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from
Gaza.
Netanyahu
insists on the principle that Israel will control the Philadelphi corridor,
with the aim of preventing the rearming of Hamas and a repeat of the atrocities
of the Oct. 7 attack on Israel. He also denied reports that Israel would be
willing to accept an international force in the corridor.
Hamas
on Friday pushed back that Netanyahu was “blocking any chance to reach a
cease-fire deal.”
El-Sissi
in his call with Biden stressed the importance of Israel and Hamas “showing
flexibility to complete the agreement” to “spare the region the scourge of
expanding the conflict,” according to an Egyptian government statement.
Asked
whether Netanyahu was negotiating in good faith, Kirby noted that Biden had a
“constructive” conversation Wednesday with Netanyahu.
“We’re
in Cairo. They’re in Cairo,” Kirby said. “We need Hamas to participate. We need
to get down to the brass tacks of locking in these details. And that’s what
we’re focused on here.”
The
war began with the Oct. 7 attack as Hamas and other militants stormed Israel,
killing around 1,200 people — mostly civilians — and abducting around 250. The
Israeli offensive launched in response has killed more than 40,000 Palestinians
in Gaza, according to the local Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish
between militants and civilians.
Biden
last week said he was “optimistic” that an agreement could be reached after he
spoke by phone with the Egyptian president and Qatar’s emir. That conversation
came after a round of negotiations in Doha that White House officials said
showed promise that a deal was close.
But
by Tuesday, Biden was notably more muted about the prospects of the two sides
coming to an agreement soon. He told reporters after delivering an address at
the Democratic convention that “Hamas was now backing off,” but that the U.S.
is “going to keep pushing” to land a cease-fire deal.
Biden
in a Wednesday call with Netanyahu “stressed the urgency of bringing the
ceasefire and hostage release deal to closure,” according to the White House.
Biden
also made clear to Netanyahu that both Hamas and Israel will need to
compromise, according to a person familiar with the leaders’ call who spoke on
the condition of anonymity about the private conversation.
Meanwhile,
the families of the Israeli hostages said they met with Netanyahu on Friday “to
understand what could still be more important than freeing their loved ones,”
venting their anger at his failure to seal a cease-fire deal that would lead to
their loved ones’ release from Hamas captivity.
Representatives
from the Hostages Family Forum, a group representing relatives of hostages,
said Netanyahu reiterated his commitment to do everything in his power to bring
their family members back alive. More than 100 Israeli hostages remain in Gaza,
including dozens who are presumed dead.
“The
word ‘alive’ limits this to a certain time frame,” said Yizhar Lifshitz, son of
hostage Oded Lifshitz, whose mother was kidnapped and freed by Hamas last
October. The revelation on Thursday that the autopsies of six captives — which
Israeli troops recovered from an underground tunnel in southern Gaza — were
riddled with bullet wounds has escalated domestic pressure on Netanyahu to
agree to a cease-fire that might save captives’ lives.
Ella
Ben Ami, daughter of hostage Israeli Ohad Ben Ami, said she left her meeting
with Netanyahu “with a heavy and difficult feeling that this isn’t going to
happen soon, and I fear for my father’s life, for the girls who are there, and
for everyone.”
Jonathan
Panikoff, director of the Scowcroft Middle East Security Initiative at the
Atlantic Council, said the talks might be yielding some progress on Israel
Defense Forces’ presence at the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors as well as
differences over which Palestinian prisoners should be released.
Still,
Panikoff said Netanyahu’s and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar’s skepticism about the
peace effort remains a difficult obstacle to overcome.
He
added, “Even if Netanyahu responds positively to President Biden’s push to
reduce some of his requirements, there’s no indication yet that Sinwar is
offering the flexibility that would be required to reach a deal.”