White House says new hostage agreement not ‘imminent’
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby speaks at a press briefing at the White House in Washington, December 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
No deal for a pause in the Gaza fighting and a release of the hostages is “imminent,” White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby says.
However, the Biden aide says the US is working toward this goal on a daily basis, with CIA chief William Burns currently in Warsaw for meetings with Israeli and Qatari counterparts, and that the issue was at the top of US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan’s agenda when he was in Israel last week.
