Live Update 
From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, August 13, 2024
From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, August 13, 2024
White House envoys McGurk, Hochstein traveling to Mideast as US seeks to finalize hostage deal
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre tells reporters aboard Air Force One that White House mideast czar Brett McGurk is traveling to Cairo and Doha, while special envoy Amos Hochstein is traveling to Beirut as the administration seeks to finalize a ceasefire and hostage release deal, while also preventing further regional escalation.
“We believe that negotiators should come to the table. We believe getting to a ceasefire deal is the best way to de-escalate the tensions that we’re seeing,” Jean-Pierre tells reporters.
She also calls on Israel and Hamas to attend Thursday’s hostage talk summit. Israel has already said it will send a team, while Hamas has indicated that it won’t.
