White House says still no hostage talks despite Sinwar killing

While the US initially framed Israel’s killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar as an opportunity to jumpstart hostage talks after a months-long impasse, White House National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby acknowledges that no such negotiations have restarted in the five days since his death.

“I cannot sit here today and tell you that negotiations are about to restart in Doha or Cairo or anywhere else, but we have started to begin to think about it here and have had some initial conversations with our Israeli counterparts,” Kirby says.

Relatedly, US special envoy Amos Hochstein is currently in Beirut for talks with Lebanese officials “to see what could be in the realm of the possible in terms of trying to find a meaningful ceasefire” between Israel and Hezbollah, Kirby adds.