US: Ball in Hamas’s court for hostage deal
All remaining hostages may not be freed during six-week war pause
The framework for a hostage deal that would include a sixweek pause to the Gaza war is in place, but it is contingent on a positive response from Hamas, a senior US administration official said on Friday.
“Right now, the ball is in the court of Hamas and we are continuing to push this as hard as we possibly can,” a US official told reporters during a background briefing on a deal that the US hopes will be in place by the start of the holy month of Ramadan on March 10.
“The Israelis have accepted... a six-week cease-fire” as part of a “phased deal” that would “enable a significant surge of the humanitarian work that has to be done,” a US official said.
The deal is structured so that it can be transformed into something more long-lasting, he said.
The sticking point now, the US official said, is the hostages, especially those who are vulnerable, such as women, the sick, and the elderly who would be freed in the first phase.
His words echoed other statements indicating that not all of the remaining 134 hostages would be freed during the six-week pause to the war.
In the background briefing, the US official said that this deal is more complex than the one carried out in November, as he referred to the week-long pause that saw the release of 105 captives.
“The hostages have to be released,” he said, adding that “it’s now at the point where the main issue is whether Hamas is committed to doing that – that is really the main issue now.”
“We would have a ceasefire if Hamas addresses that final issue,” the official stated, cautioning that he did not want to raise false hopes about an agreement for which more work was needed.
Israeli and Hamas delegations were expected to arrive in Cairo on Sunday, two
Egyptian security sources said, though another source briefed on the talks said Israel would not send a delegation until it got a full list of hostages who are still alive. Egypt and Qatar have been the main mediators of a hostage deal with backup support from the United States.
For its part, Israel will not take part in more talks until Hamas clarifies the number of hostages slated to go free, and how many are still alive, a source briefed on the talks said.
“No [Israeli] delegation will be going to Cairo until Hamas provides answers,” the source said.
Hamas said this week that around 70 captives had been killed due to Israel’s military operations.
The terror group has not backed away from its position that a temporary truce must be the start of a process toward ending the war altogether, an Egyptian source and a Hamas official said.
Israel has insisted that it must be able to complete the IDF’s military campaign to destroy Hamas and that once the war is over, its army must maintain security control of Gaza.
Egyptian sources said assurances had been offered to Hamas that the terms of a permanent ceasefire would be worked out in the second and third phases of the deal.
supplies do not end up in the hands of Hamas.
Before the conflict, Gaza relied on 500 trucks with supplies entering daily.
The UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA said on Friday