President Joe Biden said Aug. 11 that a hostage cease-fire deal between Israel and the Hamas terrorist group is possible but warned that the conflict could “easily” escalate.
“I’m working literally every single day—and my whole team—to see to it that it doesn’t escalate into a regional war,” Biden said. “But it easily can.”
Fears of a broader Middle East war have surged in recent weeks after tit-for-tat strikes between Israel’s military and Lebanon’s Hezbollah amid the conflict with Hamas in Gaza. U.S. and Israeli officials say Hezbollah, long designated a terrorist organization, launched a strike in the Golan Heights in late July, killing about a dozen civilians.
It prompted an Israeli strike in Beirut that killed what Hezbollah said was its top commander. That prompted multiple warnings in August from several countries including the United States, France, the United Kingdom, and more to their citizens to leave the country.
Iran, which U.S. officials say has long backed Hezbollah and Hamas, has vowed a response for the death of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran last month.
“The supreme leader’s orders regarding the harsh punishment of Israel and revenge for the blood of martyr Ismail Haniyeh are clear and explicit ... and they will be implemented in the best possible way,” Ali Fadavi, deputy commander-in-chief of the Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, told Iranian media on Aug. 9.
When asked by reporters on that same day to respond to the Iranian leader’s remarks, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said the United States is “100 percent” willing to defend Israel.
But he added that “we’re also working, at the same time, in the diplomatic space to try to de-escalate the tensions and to prevent any major escalation of the conflict there in the region and certainly to prevent any all-out war. That’s still our goal here.”
Last week, the U.S. military announced the deployment of additional assets to the Middle East, including an aircraft carrier, amid the rising tensions between Iran and Israel.
It comes as the United States, Egypt, and Qatar have spent months trying to mediate a cease-fire and the return of the roughly 110 remaining hostages, around a third of whom Israeli authorities believe to be dead.
“There is no further time to waste nor excuses from any party for further delay. It is time to release the hostages, begin the ceasefire, and implement this agreement,” the statement continued.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office responded by saying that Israel will send its negotiations team to finalize the details of the agreement.
Hamas military chief Yahya Sinwar, who is believed to be sheltering in underground bunkers beneath Gaza, took over as the group’s political leader. Hamas had other representatives besides Haniyeh attending the talks who can step in for the slain official, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said.
Israel’s military said Aug. 9 that its forces were still battling Hamas terrorists in Gaza’s southernmost city, Rafah, in an assault there that has lasted three months. Its new assault in Khan Younis drove more people into the camps and neighboring areas.
Israel says its aim since the Oct. 7 attack, in which Hamas terrorists from Gaza stormed into southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and abducting 250 others, has been to destroy Hamas. After a round of release exchanges in November, Israel says 111 hostages remain in Gaza, including 39 bodies.
