Biden urges Egypt, Qatar to press Hamas to agree to hostage deal

Washington: US President Joe Biden has written to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar, calling on them to press Hamas for a hostage deal with Israel, according to a senior administration official, a day after he called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to redouble efforts to reach a ceasefire in the six-month-old war in Gaza.

The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private letters, said Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, would meet on Monday with family members of some of the estimated 100 hostages who are believed to still be in Gaza.

The letters to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani, come as Biden has deployed CIA Director William Burns to Cairo for talks this weekend about the hostage crisis.

Anti-Zionist Orthodox Jewish children shout at pro-Israel supporters at a march on Al Quds Day on April 5. The day is celebrated worldwide on the last Friday of the holy month of Ramadan to show support for the Palestinians.Credit: Getty Images

David Barnea, the head of Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, and negotiators from Egypt and Qatar are expected to attend. The Hamas side of the talks is indirect, with proposals relayed through third parties to Hamas leaders sheltering in tunnels beneath Gaza.

White House officials say negotiating a pause in fighting to facilitate the exchange of hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel is the only way to put a temporary ceasefire into effect and boost the flow of badly needed humanitarian aid into the territory.

Biden, in his conversation with Netanyahu, “made clear that everything must be done to secure the release of hostages, including American citizens” and discussed “the importance of fully empowering Israeli negotiators to reach a deal,” according to the official. The first phase of the proposed deal would secure the release of women and elderly, sick and wounded hostages.

US President Joe Biden on Friday. He’s written to Arab leaders to demand they do more to convince Gaza’s rulers Hamas to accept a hostage deal.Credit: Bloomberg

White House national security spokesman John Kirby said that Biden underscored the need to get a hostage deal done during the conversation with Netanyahu that largely focused on Israeli airstrikes that killed seven aid workers with World Central Kitchen.

“We are coming up on six months – six months that these people have been held hostage. And what we have to consider is just the abhorrent conditions” the hostages are being held in, Kirby said. “They need to be home with their families.”

Biden had expressed optimism for a temporary ceasefire and a hostage deal before the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but an agreement never materialised.

The White House said in a statement on Friday following Biden’s call with Netanyahu that the US president said reaching an “immediate ceasefire” in exchange for hostages was “essential” and urged Israel to reach such an accord “without delay”.

White House officials acknowledge that Biden has become increasingly frustrated with Israel’s prosecution of a grinding war that has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians.

The war in Gaza began when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, on October 7, killing some 1200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage.

The Israeli military campaign in Gaza, experts say, is among the deadliest and most destructive in recent history. Within two months, researchers say, the offensive already wreaked more destruction than the razing of Syria’s Aleppo between 2012 and 2016, Ukraine’s Mariupol or, proportionally, the Allied bombing of Germany in World War II. It has killed more civilians than the US-led coalition did in its three-year campaign against the Islamic State group.

The White House has maintained its support for Israel amid growing domestic and international wariness with Israel’s prosecution of the war, and repeatedly said that a temporary cease-fire could have already come had Hamas agreed to release the sick, the wounded, the elderly, and young women.

But the pressure on Biden has only mounted since this week’s airstrikes that killed the World Central Kitchen workers.

The Israeli government has acknowledged “mistakes” and announced some disciplinary measures against officers involved in ordering the strikes. Israel also approved a series of steps aimed at increasing the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, including the reopening of a key crossing that was destroyed in the Hamas attack.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said the World Central Kitchen incident was part of a broader problem with how the Israeli military is carrying out the war. Nearly 200 humanitarian aid workers have killed since start of the conflict.

“But the essential problem is not who made the mistakes, it is the military strategy and procedures in place that allow for those mistakes to multiply time and time again,” he said. “Fixing those failures requires independent investigations and meaningful and measurable change on the ground.”

AP