By AAMER MADHANI (Associated Press)
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Joe Biden wrote to the leaders of Egypt and Qatar on Friday, urging them to pressure Hamas for a captive deal with Israel, according to a senior administration official. This comes after Biden urged Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to intensify efforts for a truce in the six-month war in Gaza.
The official, speaking anonymously, stated that Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, will meet on Monday with family members of some of the approximately 100 captives believed to still be in Gaza.
The letters to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and Qatar’s ruling emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, coincide with Biden sending CIA Director William Burns to Cairo for discussions about the captive crisis this weekend.
David Barnea, the head of Mossad, Israel’s spy agency, and negotiators from Egypt and Qatar are anticipated to attend. The Hamas side of the talks is indirect, with proposals conveyed through intermediaries to Hamas leaders sheltering in tunnels beneath Gaza.
White House officials say that the only way to achieve a temporary cease-fire and enhance the flow of much-needed aid into the territory is to negotiate a pause in the hostilities between Israel and Hamas, facilitating the exchange of captives held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel.
During his talk with Netanyahu, Biden emphasized the necessity of securing the release of captives, including American citizens, and discussed the importance of empowering Israeli negotiators fully to reach an agreement. The initial stage of the proposed deal would secure the release of women, the elderly, and sick and injured captives.
White House national security spokesman John Kirby previously mentioned that Biden stressed the importance of concluding a captive deal during the Thursday discussion with Netanyahu, which largely focused on Israeli airstrikes resulting in the deaths of seven aid workers with World Central Kitchen.
“We are approaching six months—six months that these individuals have been held captive. What we need to consider are the atrocious conditions in which the captives are being held. They need to be reunited with their families,” Kirby said.
Biden had expressed hope for a temporary cease-fire and a captive deal leading up to the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, but an agreement never materialized.
The White House stated on Thursday following Biden’s call with Netanyahu that the U.S. president deemed achieving an “immediate cease-fire” in exchange for captives as “critical” and urged Israel to reach such an agreement “without delay.”
White House officials acknowledge that Biden has grown increasingly frustrated with Israel’s conduct of a protracted conflict that has claimed the lives of over 33,000 Palestinians.
The war in Gaza began when militants led by Hamas invaded southern Israel, resulting in the deaths of about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and the taking of approximately 250 individuals as captives.
According to experts, the Israeli military campaign in Gaza is one of the deadliest and most destructive in recent history. Within two months, researchers say, the offensive has caused more destruction than the destruction of Syria’s Aleppo between 2012 and 2016, Ukraine’s Mariupol, or, proportionally, the Allied bombing of Germany in World War II. It has also killed more civilians than the U.S.-led coalition did in its three-year campaign against the Islamic State group.
The White House has continued to support Israel amid growing domestic and international caution with Israel’s handling of the war, and has repeatedly stated that a temporary cease-fire could have already happened if Hamas had agreed to release the sick, the wounded, the elderly, and young women.
But the pressure on Biden has only increased since the recent airstrikes that killed the World Central Kitchen workers.
The Israeli government admitted to “mistakes” and announced some disciplinary actions against officers involved in ordering the strikes. Israel also approved a series of measures aimed at increasing the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, including the reopening of a key crossing that was destroyed in the October 7 Hamas attack.
U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated Friday that the World Central Kitchen incident is part of a broader problem with how the Israeli military is carrying out the war. Nearly 200 humanitarian aid workers have been killed since the conflict began.
“But the fundamental problem is not who made the mistakes, it is the military strategy and procedures in place that allow for those mistakes to happen over and over again,” he said. “Rectifying those failures requires independent investigations and meaningful and measurable change on the ground.”
