An Iranian reprisal attack against Israel could impact negotiations to finalize a hostage deal set for Thursday, US National Security Communications Adviser John Kirby told reporters during a virtual briefing on Monday.
“The timing of it can certainly have an impact on these talks,” he said.
The United States, along with Egypt and Qatar, the main mediator countries for a deal, had announced the talks as part of its efforts to finalize the three-phase deal to secure the release of the remaining 115 hostages.
Washington had hoped that if it could finalize a deal, there would be a temporary Gaza ceasefire that would lead to a permanent one. Such a deal, the US holds, would prevent Hezbollah and Iran from executing reprisal attacks against Israel.
Iran seemed to indicate last week that this would be the case, but there have been multiple reports this week that Tehran is preparing to attack the Jewish state.
Israeli officials have also been more cautious than their American counterparts, explaining they believe that Thursday’s talks are important but were unlikely to lead to an immediate announcement of the deal.
The Prime Minister’s Office, however, had immediately said it would send a delegation to the talks, while Hamas has not agreed to participate, arguing it had already agreed to the terms of the agreement and that anything else introduces new terms into the deal.
“All negotiators should return to the table and bring this deal to a close – it’s time to do that,” Kirby said.
“The details are of such a nature that we think they can be hashed out. More critically, it’s time for Hamas to release the hostages, which of course, include American citizens, and help us all bring some relief to the people of Gaza,” he said.
“They say they care about the people of Gaza. They say they care about the Palestinian people. One way to prove that is to sign up for this deal – show up, close it, and let’s get it done,” Kirby stated.
Not linking reprisal threats
Israel has not necessarily linked the reprisal threats from Iran and its proxy group Hezbollah with the success of the hostage talks, seeing the two things as operating on different tracks.
Kan News reported on Monday night that some 25-33 live hostages could be released in the first phase of the deal, which is set to deal with humanitarian cases during the six weeks of its implementation. The Jerusalem Post has confirmed this report.
There had been initial speculation that only some 18 live hostages would be freed during that first part of the deal.
The spokesperson for Hamas’s armed al-Qassam Brigades, Abu Ubaida, said on Monday that one of the captives was killed by his guard and two women captives were seriously wounded.
He blamed the incident on what he described as Israeli “massacres” against Palestinians.
“The enemy government [Israel] bears full responsibility for these massacres and the resulting reactions that affect the lives of Zionist prisoners,” Abu Ubaida said in a statement posted on Telegram.
He said a committee has been formed to investigate the details, and the findings will be announced later, adding that efforts are underway to save the two wounded hostages.
It is the first time that Al-Qassam has said its guards killed hostages. The group has often attributed previous killings of hostages to Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip.
IDF spokesperson Avichay Adraee said in Arabic on X: “In the last few minutes, the terrorist Hamas [organization] published a written report claiming that in two separate incidents, Hamas activists killed an Israeli captive and wounded two women captives. At this stage, there is no intelligence document to confirm or refute Hamas’s allegations. We continue to investigate the credibility of the statement and will provide information where we have it.”
Hamas in the past had falsely claimed that one of its female captives had been killed.
The development comes shortly after the Palestinian terrorist group named Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar, one of the masterminds behind the October 7 attack on Israel, as its leader to replace Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Tehran on July 31.
Reuters contributes to this report.