Israeli President Isaac Herzog acknowledged his country’s willingness to agree to a second temporary ceasefire to secure the release of the hostages still being held by Hamas in Gaza.
Israel and Hamas agreed to a four-day cessation of hostilities in late November that was ultimately extended for a week, and during the pause, more than 100 Israeli hostages held since the Oct. 7 terrorist attacks were freed. But the war restarted after Hamas failed to deliver on the daily agreement, and no hostages have been freed since then, though three were killed accidentally by Israeli forces last week.
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“I thanked them for their own respective nations’ efforts to release the hostages and made clear that Israel is ready for another humanitarian pause in order to enable the release of hostages and that the responsibility lies fully with Sinwar and the leadership of Hamas,” Herzog told a gathering of ambassadors from more than 80 nations.
Despite Herzog’s comments, a U.S. administration official said a day earlier that a deal was not “imminent,” even though U.S., Israeli, and Qatari officials are continuing to discuss a deal. CIA Director Bill Burns met Monday with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and David Barnea, the head of Israel’s Mossad spy agency.
“We continue to work really hard to try to get another deal in place, which would, of course, be accompanied by another humanitarian pause and hopefully some additional humanitarian assistance. But we aren’t — I can’t say that we are at a point where another deal is imminent,” National Security Council coordinator John Kirby told reporters on Monday.
“Every minute that passes is a minute that they shouldn’t be held hostage, is a minute that they’re in harm’s way, a minute that they could be tortured, raped, beaten, or denied basic medical care. I mean, we have to assume that these people are being held in horrific conditions,” he added, “and so, that’s why when I say we’re working it hour by hour, that’s not hyperbole. That’s true. There’s not an hour of the day that goes by where — that our team is not trying to see if we can get the two sides back at the table to negotiate another pause.”
Israeli leaders have repeatedly said they would not stop their war efforts until Hamas leaders are captured or killed, the group is removed from power in Gaza, and stripped of its military capabilities.
The Biden administration and Israeli backers argue against a complete and lasting ceasefire before Hamas is removed from power due to its leaders’ threat to carry out more attacks against Israel, even though U.S. officials have repeatedly urged Israel to do more to prevent civilian casualties.
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The death toll in Gaza is nearing 20,000 since the start of Israel’s war about 10 weeks ago, according to the Hamas-controlled Gaza Health Ministry. The total does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, while Hamas intentionally embeds itself within and underneath densely populated civilian areas in a long-held strategy that forces Israeli forces to come after them and risk the civilians they put in harm’s way.
U.S. officials have pushed Israel to start lower-intensity, more precise operations to prevent civilian casualties, though those types of operations put the soldiers who carry them out at more risk.
