The shocking discovery of six hostages killed in a tunnel in Gaza over the weekend has sent US officials scrambling for a new strategy to resume stalled negotiations aimed at securing a ceasefire deal and allowing dozens of prisoners to return home.
“Our team is still working to get this closed,” White House spokesman John Kirby said Tuesday. “It’s not because we didn’t have a sense of urgency before – we always did, but the murder at the weekend, the execution is the only way to put it, it just emphasizes the importance of keeping the work alive and moving forward. .”
White House national security communications adviser John Kirby speaks during a press conference in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on July 25, 2024 in Washington, DC.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images, FILE
The Biden administration is currently working on a new framework for the release of hostages and a cease-fire agreement with its partners Qatar and Egypt and expects to present a completed and comprehensive proposal to Israel and Hamas in the coming days, according to US officials.
But Kirby denied reports that it would be given to both sides as a “take it or leave it” option and refused to say what would happen if both Israel and Hamas did not accept the upcoming proposal.
“I don’t use that word,” he said. “I just refuse to speculate about what might happen or what might not happen.”
On Monday, Israel’s Health Minister said that after examining the bodies of the six hostages who had been recovered, he determined that they had been shot at close range and died shortly before they could recover.
In a statement, a spokesman for the armed wing of Hamas blamed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the deaths, saying “the insistence on releasing prisoners through military pressure instead of making a deal will mean returning to their families in coffins, and their families will have to choose between death or life.”
Sources told ABC News that although the Israel Defense Forces did not conduct a rescue operation when the hostages were presumed dead, a special unit was operating in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, near the hostages.
The composite image shows hostages Ori Danino, Carmel Gat, Hersh Goldberg-Polin, Eden Yerushalmi, Alexander Lobanov, and Almog Sarusi, who were kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7 attack, and their bodies found on the ground in the Rafah area of ​​the region. Gaza Strip.
Bringing Home Now via Reuters
“I think when you see an order like that, it shows what a filthy group we have in Hamas, when they make it clear that they’re going to execute innocent human beings instead of helping them,” State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said. .
Two U.S. officials familiar with the ongoing cease-fire talks said representatives of Hamas did not warn mediators that they would begin executing prisoners to thwart Israeli efforts to return them by any means other than negotiated release.
However, a spokesman for Hamas said that the guards had been operating under instructions to kill hostages in custody if Israeli forces neared the site since June, when the IDF succeeded in freeing four hostages in a raid that killed dozens of Palestinians.
State Department spokesman Matthew Miller answers questions about an American soldier detained in North Korea after he deliberately crossed the border from South Korea during a news briefing at the State Department on July 18, 2023, in Washington.
Nathan Howard/AP, FILE
High stakes, small impact
Despite the stuttering progress, the Biden administration says negotiations are gaining ground in recent days.
“We had constructive discussions last week in the region to try and come to an agreement on the last gap,” Miller said Tuesday. “We are making progress in overcoming the remaining obstacles, but ultimately, reaching an agreement will require both sides to show flexibility.”
But despite great pressure from the Israeli public, Netanyahu stated on Monday that he would not back down from his demand that the IDF should remain in the strategic Philadelphi corridor between southern Gaza and Egypt – a key point in the talks.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu speaks during a press conference in Jerusalem, September 2, 2024.
Ohad Zwigenberg/AP
Kirby returned to the prime minister, saying that he did not agree with the agreement that the Israeli government had reached.
“I’m not going to debate with the prime minister,” Kirby said, stressing that several draft agreements agreed by Israel in recent months call for the IDF to be expelled from all densely populated areas of Gaza, including. the Philadelphia corridor.
“This is a proposal that Israel has agreed to over and over again,” he said.
While the United States has considerable diplomatic influence in Israel, it has far more influence over Hamas. Through the negotiations, the government had little insight into the thinking of its leader, Yahya Sinwar, who was described by Secretary of State Antony Blinken as the “key determinant” of the ceasefire negotiations.
Experts see Hamas’s brutal transformation and execution of hostages near the Philadelphi corridor as a ploy to push IDF forces away from the area, which could allow the group to regain control. Israel has not indicated whether it will resume rescue missions or modify operations along Gaza’s southern border.
The prospects for a wider conflict in the Middle East may depend on progress in negotiations between Israel and Hamas. Iran has blamed Israel for carrying out an attack in Tehran that killed Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in late July and has vowed revenge. Israel claimed responsibility for the attack in July that killed Hezbollah Commander Fouad Shukr, but has not said it was also behind the attack that killed Haniyeh in Tehran.
It is not clear why Iran has not followed through on the threat, but US officials believe Tehran may be on alert to derail Gaza ceasefire negotiations.
The hostages are still in Gaza
Even before the killing of the six hostages, U.S. and Israeli officials had estimated that a deal would free a relatively small number of prisoners – estimated to be fewer than 50 still alive. Officials say there are currently 97 hostages still in Gaza.
Even before the hostages were found dead, US officials told ABC News that only about a dozen hostages could be freed if Israel and Hamas agreed to a framework partially outlined by President Joe Biden in May. At least three of the prisoners found dead in the tunnel – including dual Israeli American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin, 23 – must have been among them, he said.
Twelve Americans were taken during the October 7 attack by Hamas. Two were released in late October, and two others were released in November as part of a ceasefire deal.
Of the eight Americans who remain in custody in Gaza, four have been declared dead. US and Israeli officials believe there are four others – Edan Alexander, 19; Sagui Dekel-Chen, 36; Omer Neutra, 22, and Keith Siegel, 65 – may still be alive.
