White House: Miles to go before hostage deal reached, but signs are positive

There are still “miles to go” before a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal is achieved, US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters, as Hamas accuses Israel of preventing a deal and Shin Bet head Ronen Bar headed to Cairo to participate in further negotiations.

“This is a complex negotiation with a lot of moving parts and a lot of details to be worked through,” Sullivan said.

“I think there's still miles to go before we close if we are able to close,” Sullivan explained, adding that he didn’t want to say that an agreement was “immediately around the corner.”

At the same time, “It does not have to be far out in this instance if everyone comes at this with the will to get it done because the deal is there,” he said.

“Our team is in the region as we speak, working through” the remaining issues to be resolved, “and we're going to keep driving until we actually get a deal,” Sullivan stated.

Still, he stressed, “signs are more positive today than they have been in recent weeks.”

Washington has led an intense diplomatic push this week to finalize a three-phase deal for the release of the remaining 120 hostages, which US President Joe Biden unveiled on May 31.

CIA Director William Burns held negotiations in Doha on Wednesday with his Israeli, Qatari, and Egyptian intelligence counterparts. Qatar and Egypt are the main mediators between Hamas and Israel, with the support of the United States.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that “the negotiating team returned last night from a four-way summit with the mediators in Doha. 

“Discussed at the meeting were the clauses of the deal on returning the hostages and ways to implement the outline [of the deal] while ensuring all the objectives of the war” are met, the PMO said.

Netanyahu met in the morning with the team led by Mossad Chief David Barnea, which had been in Doha on Wednesday.

“A delegation led by the Shin Bet Director together with IDF representatives, is due to leave for Cairo this evening for the continuation of the talks,” the PMO said.

Officials spoke out about the deal as the IDF continued its military campaign against Hamas in Gaza City, whose residents have spoken of civilian losses and bodies lying in the streets.

A moral obligation

In a speech Netanyahu delivered at a graduation ceremony for IDF officers, he spoke of his commitment to free the remaining 120 hostages held in Gaza out of the 251 that were seized during the Hamas-led invasion of Israel on October 7.

“We have a moral obligation to return them all to Israel - the living and the dead alike. This is a sacred mission,” he said.

Netanyahu recalled that during an initial hostage deal in November, 105 captives were freed. 

“Without the military pressure and standing steadfast on our demands, we could not have reached the first release – and only with this pressure and this stand will we reach the second release,” Netanyahu said.

“Without the military pressure, we would not have the necessary intelligence for the operations we have carried out,” he said.

Hamas claims Israel is tanking the deal

Hamas, however, warned that Israel was thwarting a deal.

“The occupation continues its policy of procrastination to gain time with the aim of thwarting this round of negotiations as it did in previous rounds,” Hamas said in a statement it posted on its Telegram page.

“This does not deceive our people and [or stop] their resistance,” Hamas said.

Netanyahu in turn blamed Hamas for holding up the deal as he reiterated his commitment to the Biden proposal.

“I would like to emphasize that I am committed to the outline for the release of our hostages; however, the Hamas murderers are still continuing to cling to demands that contravene the outline and endanger the security of Israel.”

Netanyahu has stressed in the last week that he has five redlines for a deal, adding that he believes it’s possible to adhere to those principled points within the context of the deal.

This includes his insistence that the war’s goals must be achieved: removing Hamas from military and governance control in Gaza and the return of all the hostages.

With that in mind, any deal must allow for Israel to resume fighting to adhere to the war’s goals. 

“We will not allow the smuggling of weapons to Hamas from Egypt, first and foremost through Israeli control of the Philadelphi Corridor and the Rafah Crossing,” Netanyahu said. It was a statement that clarified his intention to retain control of the Philadelphi Corridor, which is a buffer zone between Gaza and Egypt, through which Hamas has smuggled weapons into Gaza for years.

Netanyahu added that armed terrorists could not return to northern Gaza and promised to ensure that the maximal number of live hostages would be returned in the first phase of the deal.

White House Coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk, who was in Cairo on Monday, met in Israel on Wednesday and Thursday with top Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu and Defense Minster Yoav Gallant.

During their second meeting on Thursday, they spoke again about the hostage talks and the need to prevent further weapons smuggling from Egypt into Gaza.

Egyptian sources said the discussions sought to build on points previously agreed to by Hamas. The group said in a statement that mediators had not yet provided them with updates.

The Egyptian sources said there had been agreement on preparations to free Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners, as well as on the pullback of Israeli forces from residential areas of southern Gaza during the first six-week phase of a proposed deal. There was also agreement on a mechanism for administering Gaza after the war, they said.

However, differences remained over security arrangements at crossings into the Gaza Strip and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces, the sources added.

Demands by Hamas for written guarantees that a deal would lead to a lasting ceasefire were being worked on, they said.Israel’s security cabinet met on Thursday night to discuss the deal.

Reuters contributed to this report.