US officials in ‘next steps’ discussion to see Gaza ceasefire deal reached
After several hours of meeting with high-level negotiating officials… US President Joe Biden – as well as Vice President Kamal Harris, the secretary of state, the national security adviser, the CIA director and the Middle East tsar Brett McGurk – emerged from the Situation Room.
According to the readout, US President Joe Biden expressed concern about the devastation [in Gaza] as well as outrage over the murders of the captives that were killed over the weekend.
But also, the president and the vice president are getting updates from the US negotiating team on the status of the proposal that has been worked out by the US, Qatar and Egypt.
We know that there was a discussion about next steps to secure the release of the remaining captives. This includes, we understand, constant coordination and consultation between co-mediators Qatar and Egypt.
Chance of Gaza ceasefire deal ‘almost non-existent’: Analyst
Professor of Israel studies and political science at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) Dov Waxman said Netanyahu’s plea to the public for forgiveness after the bodies of six Israeli captives were discovered in Gaza over the weekend will not “make any difference”.
“I don’t think that is going to make any difference to the Israelis who are demanding a deal and particularly the families of the hostages who have really been at the forefront of making these demands” for a ceasefire, Waxman told Al Jazeera.
“I think Netanyahu’s press conference is only going to make them [the protesters] even more determined to apply more pressure on the prime minister to make a deal. But, as it seems, by this press conference, Prime Minister Netanyahu is not willing to make a deal – at least not on the terms that we know of,” he said.
Waxman said the chances of a ceasefire deal appear to be “almost non-existent”.
“It really depend upon three men. President Biden, of course. But first and foremost Netanyahu and [Hamas leader] Yahya Sinwar. I don’t think Sinwar or Netanyahu really feel under a great amount of pressure to reach an agreement despite the demands of their own domestic publics. And I don’t think there is, unfortunately, any agreement that can be put forward that is likely to be satisfactory to both men,” he said.
“I think there is really very, very slim prospects of an agreement”.
