US ambassador: ‘We don’t know what Hamas is willing to accept’ in hostage talks

US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew (left) speaks over video chat at the Haaretz Security Conference, September 16, 2024. (YouTube video screenshot: used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)
US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew (left) speaks over video chat at the Haaretz Security Conference, September 16, 2024. (YouTube video screenshot: used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew discusses efforts to reach a hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas at the annual Haaretz Security Conference.

“We don’t know what Hamas is willing to accept,” he says, adding mediators in talks — the US, Egypt, Qatar — along with Israel are trying “to bring together as close as we can one position in the end so we can force a decision by Hamas,” he says.

Lew adds that the Israeli government has indicated it can be flexible on certain issues, without elaborating.

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