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The Biden administration is working “intensely” on a hostage deal, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday night as the Israeli delegation to the Cairo talks returned home without any clear results.
“We are working to bring home the remaining hostages in Gaza; we are working intensely with Egypt, with Qatar on a proposal to bring about their release,” Blinken told reporters in Washington.
As part of an intense push for what US President Joe Biden said Monday he hoped would include a six-week pause to the war, CIA Director William Burns held talks in Cairo that followed one he had convened in Paris late last month with Qatar, Egyptian, and Israeli officials.
Egypt and Qatar have been mediating the deal. Egyptian State Information Services reported that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also held talks with Burns, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al-Thani that also dealt with increasing humanitarian assistance to Gaza and better protection for civilians, Egypt’s state information service said.
Egypt cites ‘keenness to continue consultation and coordination’
In a statement on its website, Cairo cited a “keenness to continue consultation and coordination” on the key issues, indicating that no breakthrough was made.
The Egyptian statement made no mention of Israel. The Israeli delegation had left Cairo for home, a Reuters reporter said. The Israeli prime minister’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
But Egyptian media reported that the talks had been positive.
Top officials involved in advancing a deal Mossad Director David Barnea, Shin Bet Director Ronen Bar, and IDF Maj.-Gen. Nitzan Alon had drawn up a new proposal to present at the talks that was rejected by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to MAN News.
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