From the Liveblog of
Friday, September 20, 2024
Senior US officials think Gaza ceasefire unlikely by end of Biden’s term — report
Multiple senior US officials have reportedly acknowledged that a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and Hamas is unlikely before the end of President Joe Biden’s term in office.
“No deal is imminent. I’m not sure it ever gets done,” says one of the US officials, speaking to the Wall Street Journal on condition of anonymity.
White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby acknowledged Wednesday that there has not been progress made in hostage talks over the past week. Nonetheless, Biden officials continue to stress in public and private that they will continue working to secure a deal.
The officials speaking to the Wall Street Journal say that one of the biggest obstacles has been the ratio of Palestinian security prisoners Israel must release in exchange for each hostage. The US has said publicly that Hamas has raised the number of prisoners it had originally asked for, even after executing six hostages earlier this month.
More broadly, WSJ reports that Hamas has made demands and then refuses to say “yes” to a deal after Israel accepts them.
The second major obstacle to a hostage deal cited by the US officials is the tensions between Israel and Hezbollah, which appear to be reaching a boiling point this week with the back-to-back mass detonations of Hezbollah’s communication devices, which have injured thousands of terror operatives. Those blasts were followed of airstrikes carried out by the IDF on Thursday against over 100 Hezbollah rocket projectile launchers in Lebanon that the army said were primed for a retaliatory strike.
The US officials from the White House, State Department and Pentagon tell the Journal that the possibility of a full-blown war between Israel and Hezbollah complicates diplomacy between Israel and Hamas.
Washington has long argued that the surest way to restore calm along the Blue Line is by securing a ceasefire in Gaza, and Hezbollah has asserted that it would halt its near-daily attacks against Israel if the fighting in the coastal enclave ends.
