Biden to send CIA chief to advance new hostage release deal
The talks between US, Israel, Egypt spy chiefs & Qatar PM come as Israeli media report tentative agreement reached on principles for deal to free remaining hostages for 35-day cessation of hostilities
President Biden will dispatch CIA Director Bill Burns to Europe in the coming days to try to help broker a new deal to secure the release of over 100 Israeli hostages held by Hamas in exchange for an extended cessation of hostilities in Gaza, the Washington Post reported today.
The planned talks involve Burns as well as Israel Mossad chief David Barnea, Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamal, and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani.
They come as Israeli media reported that a tentative agreement on the principles for a deal to release all the remaining hostages in exchange for an extended cessation of hostilities has been reached.
Israel and Hamas “have reached tentative agreement on the basic principles for a 35-day ceasefire, the release of all Israeli hostages, and of an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners” from Israeli jails, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported tonight, citing a source familiar with the negotiations.
According to the source, “the only issue that the parties are unable to bridge is whether a complete cease-fire will be declared as part of the deal, a Hamas demand that Israel refuses,” Haaretz wrote.
The CIA did not immediately offer confirmation of reports of Burns’ expected travel.
The expected meeting among the spy chiefs, who were involved in indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas that led to the successful hostage release/humanitarian pause deal brokered in November, follows a visit by National Security Council Middle East coordinator Brett McGurk to Egypt and Doha, Qatar, this week to try to advance the discussions.
The efforts for a new temporary ceasefire/hostage release deal come as there is growing pressure both on Israel and the Biden administration over the humanitarian crisis and rising death toll in Gaza. UN agencies said that more than 25,000 people have been killed in Gaza since Oct. 7, and that over half a million people are at risk of famine.
The latest diplomatic flashpoint occurred on Wednesday (Jan. 24), when a United Nations training center in Khan Younis, Gaza that was sheltering 800 displaced people was hit by direct fire, killing at least 13 people and wounding another 56, the UN said.
“Throughout the day and into the early evening, ambulances, UNRWA emergency teams, and missions to assess the situation were denied access to the site,” the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported.
U.S. officials expressed grave concern about the incident, but said it was not yet clear who was responsible.
“The UN does not know at this hour what happened there,” US envoy to Middle East humanitarian affairs David Satterfield told Al-Monitor in a posted video briefing. “That is the subject of direct discussion between the UN,… the Government of Israel, and us.”
“We need to see the Israeli and the UN investigations proceed as rapidly as possible,” Satterfield continued. “If this was indeed…a kinetic action, then corrective measures need to be taken to ensure that this does not happen again.”
“We have had other instances where there has indeed been validated Israeli air strikes on deconflicted facilities,” Satterfield said. “What we have underscored in those cases is full transparency and corrective measures taken to ensure that whatever happened doesn't happen again.”
In response to several incidents, the United States recently set up a special channel with Israel to raise concerns about Israeli military actions that have killed and wounded civilians in Gaza and targeted civilian infrastructure, Reuters reported.
“The channel was set up after a meeting earlier this month between U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Israel's war cabinet during which Blinken expressed concern about the ‘constant’ reports of Israeli strikes that either hit humanitarian sites or resulted in large numbers of civilian deaths,” the Reuters report said.
But, it continued, “the effort, which is the first formal push by Washington to demand explanations from Israel on the high civilian death toll, falls short of the more robust tools Washington has deployed in the past to investigate allegations of large-scale killings of civilians.”
“We continue to make clear that Israel must protect humanitarian infrastructure, take every possible precaution to minimize civilian casualties, and respect international humanitarian law,” a State Department spokesperson said tonight in response to queries about the report. “When we see reports of incidents that raise concerns, we raise those incidents directly with the Government of Israel and seek additional information.”
The new channel was disclosed the day before the International Court of Justice in the Hague was expected to issue an interim ruling concerning South Africa’s contention that the Israeli military campaign in Gaza could constitute genocide, a charge that Israel rejects, and which the United States has called unfounded.
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