CIA chief says hostage talks ‘quite serious’; White House: Deal possible by Jan. 20
Washington optimistic on chances of closing agreement to release Israelis held by Hamas before end of Biden’s term; Netanyahu huddles with security chiefs to discuss negotiations
Officials in Washington were cautiously optimistic on Friday about the prospects of closing a hostage-ceasefire deal in Gaza before the end of US President Joe Biden’s term, with CIA Director William Burns assessing ongoing negotiations in Doha as “quite serious” and White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby saying he believes a hostage deal is possible before January 20.
In his interview on NPR’s “All Things Considered,” the CIA chief said, “Negotiations going on right now are quite serious and do offer the possibility, at least, of getting this done in the next couple of weeks.”
Burns also said that the Israeli hostages held in Gaza and Palestinian civilians in the Strip were all living in “hellish conditions” right now, adding urgency to the ongoing ceasefire negotiations. He is involved in the talks on behalf of the United States.
Asked who is to blame for the lack of a ceasefire to date, Burns sidestepped the question — unlike Biden on Thursday, who squarely blamed Hamas — and said, “At this point, I still think there’s a chance [for a deal, but] I’ve learned the hard way not to get my hopes up.”
“We’ll certainly — in this administration — work very hard at that right up until January 20, and I think the coordination with the new administration on this issue has been good.”
From the White House, Kirby told reporters that he would not elaborate on Biden’s comments, so as not to harm the ongoing negotiations.
“Do I think it’s possible? Yes, we think it’s possible, but not without a lot of hard work still ahead of us,” Kirby said. “We believe it is possible, but it won’t be possible without additional compromise and some hard work.”
He also reiterated the US belief that “Hamas continues to be difficult at the table,” while declining to elaborate as to how.
For over a year, the White House has blamed Hamas for the lack of ceasefire in Gaza.
While Egyptian and Qatari diplomats along with some members of Israel’s negotiating team and even several US officials have told The Times of Israel that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to agree to anything more than a temporary ceasefire has been the main obstacle, Washington has refrained from voicing that belief publicly.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested in a New York Times interview last week that US pressure on Israel has led Hamas to harden its positions.
Incoming Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff met Friday in Doha with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, who briefed him on the ongoing hostage negotiations that Doha is mediating between Israel and Hamas, a source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel.
A day earlier, Witkoff met with Strategic Affairs Ron Dermer, who has been in the US for the past several days for meetings with top aides to Biden and US President-elect Donald Trump.
Dermer met on Friday with incoming US national security adviser Mike Waltz on Friday, to discuss the ongoing hostage deal efforts, Axios reported.
During his meetings, Dermer conveyed the message that Israel hoped to have continuity in the transition concerning US involvement in the hostage negotiations, Axios reported, citing an Israeli official.
On Friday afternoon, an Israeli official said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a situational assessment about the hostages with the heads of Israel’s security agencies during which the negotiating team gave updates and received instructions for the continuation of talks in Qatar.
“The talks in Doha continue with intensity and with complete discretion,” the official said.
Also Friday, Defense Minister Israel Katz announced that he had ordered the military to present him with a plan “for the complete defeat of Hamas in Gaza,” to be implemented if there were no hostage deal inked with the Palestinian terror group by the time Trump enters the White House.
“If the hostage deal does not materialize by the time President Trump takes office, there must be a complete defeat of Hamas in Gaza,” Katz said in a statement issued by his office.
Channel 12 cited an Israeli security source who noted that the defeat of Hamas is largely contingent on the establishment of a viable alternative to the terror group, which the government has refused to advance. Critics have argued that this is for political reasons because the most viable alternative is the Palestinian Authority, whose advancement in Gaza Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners have warned would lead them to collapse the government.
Katz’s order came hours after the IDF confirmed that the remains of hostage Hamza Ziyadne, 22, were recovered from a tunnel in southern Gaza’s Rafah, along with the body of his father Youssef Ziyadne, 53.
It is now believed that 94 of the 251 hostages abducted by Hamas on October 7 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 34 confirmed dead by the Israel Defense Forces.
Hamas released 105 civilians during a weeklong truce in late November, and four hostages were released before that. Eight hostages have been rescued by troops alive, and the bodies of 40 hostages have also been recovered, including three mistakenly killed by the military as they tried to escape their captors.
Hamas is also holding two Israeli civilians who entered the Strip in 2014 and 2015, as well as the bodies of two IDF soldiers who were killed in 2014.
Agencies contributed to this report.
