A White House spokesman said Friday (8/23) that negotiations taking place in Cairo, Egypt, on a ceasefire in Gaza were making progress.
The advance was reported as intense fighting continued between the Israel Defense Forces and Hamas militants in the besieged enclave.
In an unreleased statement Friday, a spokesman for the U.S. National Security Council (National Security Council/NSC) John Kirby told reporters the talks were “constructive” and said all parties, including Hamas, needed to work together to implement the proposed agreement.
Kirby said negotiations continued Friday, with the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (Central Intelligence Agency/CIA) Bill Burns and the American envoy to the Middle East, Brett McGurk, who represented the United States (US).
Earlier Friday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said his country's delegation was in Cairo to continue efforts to salvage the ceasefire deal. The talks involve negotiators from Israel, the U.S., Egypt and Qatar, but are not attended by Hamas representatives.
Earlier this week, Hamas indicated that it would not take part in this week's talks because the “bridge agreement” reached last week by mediators contained additional demands from Israel that the militant group could not accept.
Kirby said Friday that despite their objections, Hamas must be there.
“We're in Cairo. They're in Cairo. We need Hamas to participate, and we need to do everything we can to lock down these details,” Kirby said.
He indicated talks would continue into the weekend.
On Friday, Kirby also conveyed that the US believes Iran is still preparing to take revenge on Israel for the assassination of Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month. According to Hamas, the killing was carried out by Israel. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied the allegations.”
The NSC spokesman told reporters that the US continues to monitor Iran and “takes nothing for granted.”
Earlier on Friday, the US Department of Defense released details of a telephone conversation between US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday (8/22).
In a readout of the call, the Defense Department said the two discussed the ongoing exchange of fire on the Israel-Lebanon border between Israel and Hezbollah militants, and the risk of escalation from Iran, Hezbollah and Iranian-backed terrorist groups in the Middle East.
In his statement, Austin reiterated that the US continues to monitor attack plans from Iran and its proxies. The US, Austin said, has also established a defense posture across the region to defend Israel and protect US personnel and facilities.
Austin said they stressed the importance of completing a ceasefire agreement and releasing all hostages, including eight Americans, held by Hamas in Gaza. The statement said the two also discussed the humanitarian situation in Gaza and the need to address the potential spread of polio.
The war in Gaza began with a Hamas terror attack on Israel on October 7 that killed some 1,200 people and led to the capture of some 250 hostages.
Gaza health officials say Israeli airstrikes and ground operations have killed more than 40,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children. The Israeli military says the death toll includes thousands of Hamas fighters.
According to the United Nations (UN), nearly three-quarters of Gaza's 2.3 million residents are refugees, and nearly the entire population is at risk of starvation. (ft/ah)
Some information for this report came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
