From the Liveblog of
Friday, April 5, 2024
Biden penned letters to Egypt and Qatar, urging them to press Hamas in hostage talks – official
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
US President Joe Biden wrote to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar, calling on them to press Hamas to agree to a hostage deal with Israel, a senior administration official tells The Times of Israel.
The official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the private letters, says Biden’s national security adviser will meet 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 Bill Burns to Cairo for talks this weekend about the hostage crisis.
White House officials have said negotiating a pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas to facilitate the exchange of hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian security prisoners held in Israel is the only way to put a temporary cease-fire into effect and boost the flow of badly needed humanitarian aid into the territory.
However, the administration has drifted away from the message in recent weeks, sometimes issuing statements and allowing a UN Security Council resolution to pass that hadn’t directly conditioned a ceasefire on a hostage deal.
The senior administration officials says Biden discussed the upcoming round of hostage talks in Cairo this weekend with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during their call yesterday.
Biden “made clear that everything must be done to secure the release of hostages, including American citizens, now held by Hamas terrorists for nearly six months,” the official says.
“They discussed the importance of fully empowering Israeli negotiators to reach a deal, which in its first phase would secure the release of women, elderly, sick, and wounded hostages,” the senior US official adds.
“This basic fact remains true: There would be a ceasefire in Gaza today had Hamas simply agreed to release this vulnerable category of hostages – the sick, wounded, elderly, and young women,” the official continues. “Holding these innocent people is outrageous and a reminder as to how this war started in the first place. The onus is on Hamas to release the hostages and bring relief to the people of Gaza through a prolonged ceasefire.”
“Nobody on President Biden’s team will rest until the hostages are returned to their families,” the official says.
The Times of Israel Community.