White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the United States is continuing to support negotiations for a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, but raised the prospect that Hamas may never accept a deal.
Speaking with reporters on a Sept. 10 press call, Kirby revealed that no formal discussions are taking place between Israeli and Hamas negotiators or intermediaries, stating that the latest round of formal talks “ended without effect.”
Still, he said that U.S. intermediaries “have a shoulder to the wheel” and are advancing cease-fire talks on an informal basis.
Kirby acknowledged doubts surrounding a cease-fire after Israeli forces on Aug. 31 recovered the bodies of six murdered hostages who were taken by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023.
Israel’s military said that Hamas captors executed the hostages shortly before Israeli troops could find and rescue them.
Negotiators had hoped to win the release of those six hostages and about 100 others, in exchange for an end to the fighting in the Gaza Strip and the potential release of hundreds of Palestinians detained in Israel.
“What’s not clear to us, certainly in the wake of the execution of those six hostages, is whether we’re going to be able to get there,” Kirby told reporters.
“What’s not clear to us is whether Hamas will ever be able to come to the table in sincerity and sign on to something, and so that—that’s the complicating factor here.”
Israeli and U.S. officials have offered differing comments about the state of negotiations after the last round of formal talks ended with no apparent progress.
Some within the Biden administration, including Kirby, have said a deal is 90 percent complete.
He said that Hamas negotiators have rejected every cease-fire proposal sent their way.
In an interview with the Financial Times on Sept. 7, CIA Director Bill Burns said that 90 percent of a proposed cease-fire deal has been agreed on.
Burns also indicated during that interview that new cease-fire terms could come “in the next several days” and expressed hope that Hamas would accept the proposal.
The Epoch Times asked the White House to confirm whether it planned to release new cease-fire terms in the coming days and to describe a more specific timeline.
The White House did not respond by publication time.
Addressing reporters on Sept. 10, Kirby said Hamas negotiators have put forward new cease-fire terms of their own, but declined to specify how those requests depart from the latest round of formal talks.
The killing of the six hostages has fueled renewed protests within Israel, with some hostage families and advocates urging Netanyahu to accept a deal to get Israeli hostages out of harm’s way.
He further warned that to make concessions to Hamas after the hostage killings would only embolden them to threaten more hostages.
“To ask Israel to make concessions after this murder is to send a message to Hamas: ‘Murder more hostages, you’ll get more concessions,'” the Israeli leader said during his Sept. 5 Fox News interview.
“That’s the wrong thing to do.”
