From the Liveblog of
Thursday, March 7, 2024
CIA director expected in region as hostage talks appear to flounder — report
CIA Director William Burns is expected in the region in the coming days as talks on a potential temporary truce in Gaza and a release of hostages appear to falter, Channel 12 reports.
Burns will meet with representatives from Egypt and Qatar, who are also mediating the elusive deal. The visit will be part of a last-ditch effort by the US to secure a deal before the start of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, with US officials warning that Hamas may try to stir up violence over the course of the month, Channel 12 reports.
Hamas’s delegation left Cairo earlier today, as its stance in the negotiating process has toughened, according to reports. The terror group, which led the October 7 massacre, is again insisting on a permanent ceasefire and the withdrawal of troops from Gaza — demands that Israel has rejected outright.
Israel’s war cabinet is meeting tonight to discuss the temporary truce deal currently on the table. According to the report, Israeli officials who are familiar with discussions are asking the cabinet to give them a more flexible “mandate” to negotiate a deal, a request that is unlikely to be granted.
Two main sticking points are Hamas’s demands that displaced residents from northern Gaza be allowed to return to the area and that Israel release some 1,500 security prisoners in exchange for at least some of the hostages, the report says.
Earlier today, The Wall Street Journal reported that Hamas’s Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar has renewed contact with other Hamas officials after days of reported silence and has conveyed a hardened negotiating stance.
The tougher stance, according to the report, comes amid “signs of increased tension between Israel and the US.”
US officials said today that Hamas is holding up a six-week ceasefire deal on the table by refusing to release the sick, elderly and female hostages that it is holding in Gaza.
While there have been reports that Hamas has walked away from the talks in Cairo after they apparently hit a wall, the US officials insist that a deal is still possible and that they’re still working to reach one. “We see this as the path to get the hostages home,” one of them says.
