The Gaza hostage and ceasefire talks are progressing and have not collapsed, US National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby told reporters in advance of a high-level summit that would likely be held in Cairo already on Sunday.
Pundits and critics have speculated that this latest intensive US push to finalize a three-phase hostage deal first unveiled by US President Joe Biden on May 31 has failed.
The delay in a high-level summit initially scheduled for Wednesday and now slated for Sunday, had helped fuel that speculation.
The Philadelphi Corridor
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s repeated statements all week that he would only agree to a deal that included an IDF presence in the Philadelphi Corridor gave the situation the appearance of intractability.
Hamas has insisted that the IDF must withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor and indeed from all of Gaza as part of the deal to secure the release of the remaining 109 hostages.
Kirby, however, was optimistic on Friday in the aftermath of successful talks in Cairo Thursday with a high-leave Israeli delegation led by Mossad chief David Barnea, Mossad’s David Barnea, Shin Bet’s Ronen Bar, and Major-General Eliezer Toledano who provided options with regard to the Philadelphi Corridor.
Egypt is expected to pass on proposals to Hamas on Saturday with regard to Philaldehipo, which is a critical buffer zone between Gaza and Egypt. Both Qatar and Egypt with the help of the US have been the main mediators for the talks.
“We had constructive discussions last night in Cairo, and those discussions are going to continue today,’ he said.CIA Director Willam Burns who is expected to lead the high-level summit on Sunday is allayed in Cairo as is US special envoy Brett McGurk.
The “process is actually moving forward,” he said.
“What’s critical is that everybody participate in these talks,” Kirby said, as he urged Hamas to take part in the Cairo discussions.
It’s important that “the sides continue to work towards implementation, that everybody comes to these discussions with an eye towards actually closing out these implementation details,” he said.
There’s been reporting that the talks have collapsed, he said, adding that that is “not accurate.”
Kirby recalled the US had put forward a bridging proposal two weeks ago to address some of the disputes between Israel and Hamas. He noted that Netanyahu had accepted that proposal.
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