The United States blamed both Israel and Hamas for the absence of a hostage deal, noting that the only thing left in the process was for both sides to say “yes” to the agreement.
“The deal hasn’t been accepted because neither side is signed up to it,” US National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told reporters Wednesday during a virtual briefing.
“We believe that both sides need to do the final bit of work here to come to a conclusion on this thing,” he stated one day after the White House said work on the agreement was in its final stage.
Israel has been more cautious, with a source saying, “we don’t know that we’re close to a deal.”
The Prime Minister’s Office said Israel was waiting for a Hamas response to its latest clarifications to the three-stage hostage deal US President Joe Biden unveiled on May 31.
“Israel has already given a clear offer, and sent the negotiating delegation to Cairo already last Saturday,” the PMO stated. “Up to this moment, no response has been received from Hamas.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been under fire, with critics accusing him of adding untenable conditions to the document.
The PMO has insisted he has stuck to the framework of the deal but has clarified certain issues.
Mediating a deal
Egypt and Qatar have been mediating a deal to secure the release of the remaining 115 hostages in Gaza, with the help of the United States.
The first phase of the proposal would see some 18 to 33 hostages freed in exchange for a six-week lull in the war and the release of Palestinian security prisoners and terrorists in Israeli jails.
It’s presumed that only some 74 of the hostages held are alive, but it’s been unclear how many of those live hostages would be freed in the first phase.
Iranian and Hezbollah retaliatory threats against Israel due to the twin assassinations last week of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran have increased US determination to finalize the deal.
Kirby told reporters that Haniyeh’s replacement, Yahya Sinwar, the mastermind of the October 7 attack, has also been the chief negotiator for the agreement.
“He has always been the chief decision-maker when it comes to negotiations over the course of these now nine months,” Kirby said. “So in effect, nothing really changes in that regard. And as the chief decision-maker, he needs to decide now to take this deal, to get a ceasefire in place, to get some of those hostages home.”
Sinwar “needs to accept the deal,” he stated.
The first phase of the proposal would allow for a “six-week ceasefire [and] get us... the most vulnerable hostages out,” Kirby said.
“We believe the gaps are narrow enough that they can be closed. There are some implementation details that need to be hashed out,” he stressed. “We want both sides to hash them out and get this deal in place.
“We have a sense of urgency about this, and we believe all parties ought to have the same sense of urgency,” Kirby stated.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Tuesday, “The negotiations have reached their final stage, and we believe strongly that they should come across the finish line very, very soon.”
Hopes that hostage deal will calm regional escalation
The United States has hoped that such a ceasefire would also end the simultaneous cross-border violence between the IDF and Hezbollah as well as deter an Iranian attack against the Jewish state.
“It’s critical that all parties work to finalize an agreement as soon as possible,” he said, noting that Biden had spoken earlier in the day with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani and Egyptian President Fattah al-Sisi.
“There’s agreement on the framework. What we’ve been working on for the last few weeks are important details of how that is actually implemented,” Blinken said.
“There were some things that had to be negotiated in that process” and work on that has continued in the last weeks he explained.
He warned that regional escalation “has the potential to upend bringing the ceasefire over the line,” Blinken stated.
“We’re doing everything we can, both to avoid escalation” and “to bring the ceasefire agreement to a conclusion,” Blinken said, adding that “we won’t stop until we get there.”