From the Liveblog of
Monday, January 13, 2025
White House says Palestinian prisoners, Israeli troop withdrawal have been main sticking points in deal
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan says “formulas” regarding the release of Palestinian security prisoners and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza have been the main sticking points in hostage talks over the past several months and that the narrowing of disagreements on those issues has brought the sides to the brink of a deal.
“The gaps have fundamentally narrowed on the key issues — the formulas over prisoner exchanges, the formulas over the details of how Israel’s forces will be postured in their pullback from the Gaza Strip, the details over how to conduct the humanitarian surge in the wake of the guns going silent — these things now on paper,” Sullivan says during a press conference previewing US President Joe Biden’s speech later today reviewing his administration’s foreign policy over the past four years.
Sullivan says Biden will speak later today with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi after holding calls with the leaders of Qatar and Israel yesterday, with the top-level engagement an indicator that talks are reaching a climax.
“We are close to a deal, and it can get done this week,” he says before adding, “I cannot predict that it will… and if in five days it hasn’t happened, I will be the person who is probably least shocked by that.”
Asked whether all seven Americans still being held hostage in Gaza will be released in the first phase of the deal, Sullivan declines to answer, but says that the release of all US citizens is a top priority of the outgoing and incoming administrations.
Sullivan touts the administration’s Mideast policy over the past four years, saying, “We’ve stood in defense of our friends, and we’ve stood up to our enemies.”
“We built and acted alongside an unprecedented coalition to directly defend Israel in the face of Iranian aggression,” Sullivan continues. “Iran is now at its weakest point since 1979.”
He highlights the fall of Russia and Iran’s “lackey” Bashar Assad in Syria and the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.
“There’s a huge opportunity for Lebanon to turn this ceasefire and the degradation of Hezbollah, into a new chapter that is brighter and built not on terrorism but on the future,” Sullivan adds.
