White House says hostage talks in 'final stage'
US President Joe Biden discussed with Qatar and Egypt finalizing a ceasefire and hostage deal to ease regional tensions.
The White House said that negotiations to release the 115 hostages in Gaza were in their “final stage” on Tuesday as it sought to avoid reprisal attacks by Hezbollah and Iran against Israel.
US President Joe Biden on Tuesday spoke with leaders from the two mediating countries for a deal: Qatari Amir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad al Thani and Egyptian President Fattah El-Sisi.
Biden in the calls addressed “efforts to de-escalate regional tensions, including through an immediate ceasefire and hostage release deal,” the White House said.
The president and those two leaders agreed on “the urgency of bringing the process to closure as soon as possible.”
Biden described the negotiations “as being in their final stage.”
Netanyahu accused of sabotaging Gaza deal
White House Press Secretary Katherine Jean-Pierre said Biden “wants to get this done.
“He wants the war to end. He wants hostages to come home and to go home to their loved ones and families. And so we believe this, this war, the end of this war, would significantly lower tensions in the region, and so we have been certainly laser-focused on getting that done,” he said.
Fear has been high that the assassination of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh last week in Tehran would scuttle the talks. Israel has not claimed responsibility for the killing.
Hamas announced on Tuesday that it would replace Haniyeh with its leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar.
Israel has blamed Hamas for the absence of a deal as it has doubled down on its redlines for an agreement, including the IDF’s retention of the strategic Phliadelphi and Netzarim corridors.
Netanyahu’s opponents have accused him of inserting new conditions into the deal. Security officials have said he can afford to ease up on some of his demands and others have said he made them knowing that they would scuttle the agreement.
The Prime Minister’s Office has pushed back at such charges, insisting that Netanyahu wants to make a deal and that every principled point he has spoken falls within the framework of the three-phased proposal Biden first unveiled on May 31.
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