U.S. struggles to contain Gaza conflict, as Qatar PM sees progress in hostage release talks
U.S. response for deadly drone strike that killed 3 US service members “could be multi-leveled, come in stages, and be sustained over time,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Jan. 29.
“We are intent on doing both:… standing up for our people when they’re attacked, while at the same time working every single day to prevent the conflict from growing and spreading,” Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Jan. 29.
“We will respond strongly,” Blinken said. “And that response could be multi-leveled, come in stages, and be sustained over time.”
“We are in a much better place than where we were a few weeks ago,” Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said Jan. 29 about possible new Israel/Hamas hostage release/de-escalation deal.
Qatar’s top diplomat reported progress in talks held in Paris Sunday with the U.S., Israeli and Egyptian spy chiefs on a potential new deal for the release of over 100 Israeli hostages still held by Hamas in exchange for an extended cessation of Israel’s war in Gaza. But both he and Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested that finalizing a deal may take more time.
American officials looked preoccupied with deliberations over a retaliatory response to a deadly drone attack Sunday that killed three U.S. service members and injured nearly 40 others at a remote U.S. outpost in northeastern Jordan, near the Syrian border, without tipping the region into a wider conflict.
Blinken: Most volatile, dangerous situation in Middle East since 1973
“I think it’s very important to note that this is an incredibly volatile time in the Middle East,” Blinken said at a press event with visiting NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg this afternoon. “I would argue that we have not seen a situation as dangerous as the one we’re facing now across the region since at least 1973, and arguably even before that.”
“We’ve made very, very clear from day one that we’re going to defend our people,” Blinken said. “We’re going to defend our personnel.”
At the same time, “the President’s been very clear that we want to prevent broader escalation,” Blinken continued. “We want to prevent this conflict from spreading.”
“So we are intent on doing both: that is, standing up for our people when they’re attacked, while at the same time working every single day to prevent the conflict from growing and spreading. And that’s exactly what we’ll continue to do.”
“We will respond strongly,” Blinken continued. “We will respond at a time and place of our choosing.”
“And that response could be multi-leveled, come in stages, and be sustained over time.”
Qatar PM: Hostage release talks “in a much better place” but deal may take time
“We are in a much better place than where we were a few weeks ago,” Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani said at the Atlantic Council today (Jan. 29), following a meeting at the State Department with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
The talks that Al Thani attended with CIA Director Bill Burns, Israeli Mossad Chief David Barnea and Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel in Paris yesterday showed “good focus to get things back in shape” and lay out “a foundation for the way forward,” he said.
But the Qatari envoy seemed to temper expectations of an immediate breakthrough.
“We cannot say that this will make us in better shape very soon,” he said.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met with Al Thani this morning, said the proposal being advanced is a “strong and compelling” one, but “Hamas will have to make its own decisions.”
“The proposal that is on the table, and that is shared among the critical actors…is a strong one and a compelling one, that again offers some hope that we can get back to this process,” Blinken said at a joint press appearance with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg at the State Department this afternoon. “But Hamas will have to make its own decisions.”
“I can just tell you there is strong alignment among the countries involved that this is a good and strong proposal,” Blinken said. “The work done over the weekend, including by CIA Director Bill Burns, was important to advance this.”
“Very important and productive work has been done,” Blinken said, adding that there is “some real hope going forward.”
But if there is hope to get the Israel Gaza conflict pushed onto a more de-escalatory track, Blinken and other U.S. officials looked deeply concerned about the potential for the war to widen amid escalating attacks by Iran-backed groups in the region, and US-led responses to try to deter them.
“We do not seek another war,” National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said at the White House briefing today. “We do not seek to escalate. But we will absolutely do what is required to protect ourselves to continue that mission and to respond appropriately to these attacks.”
“We are not looking for a war with Iran,” Kirby said when asked if the US was considering retaliatory strikes inside Iran. “We're not we're not looking to escalate here. This attack over the weekend was escalatory. Make no mistake about it, and it requires a response. Make no mistake about that. I will not get ahead of the President's decision making.”
The Qatari Prime Minister, asked by NBC’s Andrea Mitchell about a reported proposed framework deal that Qatar is presenting to Hamas that would offer a reported two month cessation of hostilities in exchange for the release of all the hostages, Al Thani deflected confirming the details. Hamas has reportedly been demanding a permanent ceasefire.
“We are hoping actually to relay this proposal to Hamas and to get them to a place where they engage positively and constructively in the process,” he said.
He described the negotiations track he has spearheaded with Israeli, American and Egyptian counterparts as the only one that has proven successful to date in securing the release of Israeli hostages and bringing a temporary pause in the fighting. A hostage release/temporary pause deal in November led to the release of over 100 hostages, mostly women and children, but broke down after a week when Hamas refused to release some of the younger women hostages.
Not a single hostage has been freed alive since the pause broke down in November, though some Israeli officials have previously insisted that their military pressure was helping the hostage release talks.
“We think that … in today’s world, that [the negotiations process] is the only game in town,” Al Thani said. “That will be the only way to get the situation deescalated. And we hope…to make the war stop but also” to get the remaining Israeli hostages home with their families.
Several relatives of Israeli hostages held by Hamas attended the Atlantic Council event, and Al Thani has met with them.
Earlier this month, Gadi Eisenkot, a former Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff and a member of the current Israeli war cabinet, said only a negotiated deal would lead to the safe release of the over 100 hostages still being held by the militant group, and any suggestion otherwise was a fairy tale. Eisenkot’s 25 year old son was killed serving in Gaza in December.
“The hostages will only return alive in there is a deal linked to a significant pause in fighting,” Eisenkot toldIsrael’s Udva news program, similar to the American 60 Minutes, on January 18. Suggesting that the hostages would be freed in a commando-type raid “is to spread illusions.”
“Whoever speaks of the absolute defeat [of Hamas] is not speaking the truth,” the former IDF chief of staff said, adding that Israeli officials should not propagate such illusions. “That is why we should not tell stories…Today, the situation already in the Gaza Strip is such that the goals of the war have not yet been achieved.”
**