The U.S. authorities is making an intense effort to steer Israel and Hamas to renew negotiations to allow them to as soon as once more pause hostilities and alternate extra prisoners for hostages, a White House spokesman stated on Sunday.
“We are still working it really hard, hour by hour, to see if we can get the sides back to the table and see if we can get something moving,” John F. Kirby, the strategic communications coordinator on the White House National Security Council, stated on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “We would like that to happen today. But honestly, I just don’t know.”
In appearances on a number of Sunday discuss exhibits, Mr. Kirby emphasised that Hamas was in charge for the breakdown in talks, saying that it had not lived as much as the phrases of its unique settlement to start handing over captives held in Gaza.
He stated Hamas had failed to provide a listing of ladies and youngsters who might be launched along with the 105 hostages who have been freed throughout the unique pause in preventing. Among these nonetheless held are eight or 9 Americans. Osama Hamdan, a consultant for Hamas in Lebanon, stated on Sunday that negotiations over the hostages wouldn’t resume till the Israeli assault stopped.
Israel has since resumed its assaults on Hamas, and Mr. Kirby urged it to keep away from civilian casualties, whereas crediting its forces with making efforts to take action. He stated Israeli authorities had been open to U.S. recommendation about the best way to make their assault extra exact.
“We believe that they have been receptive to our messages here in terms of trying to minimize civilian casualties,” he stated on ABC’s “This Week.” He famous that Israel had revealed a map directing civilians to what it stated have been secure zones.
“There’s not a whole lot of modern militaries that would do that, I mean, that is, to telegraph their punches in that way,” he stated. “So they are making an effort.”
President Biden and his administration have sought to straddle a cautious line almost two months after the Oct. 7 terrorist assault through which Hamas killed an estimated 1,200 folks in Israel and took about 240 extra hostage. While supporting Israel’s proper to defend itself, the administration has additionally sought to restrain Israel from what it believes can be going too far in its response.
That led to criticism from each the left and the appropriate on Sunday, as some Republicans complained that Mr. Biden’s workforce was making an attempt to carry Israel again, whereas some liberal Democrats complained that it was not doing that sufficient.
Senator Lindsey Graham, Republican of South Carolina, singled out Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III. In a speech on Saturday, Mr. Austin warned that Israel ought to shield civilians in Gaza and stop violence towards Palestinians by Jewish settlers within the West Bank, as a result of in any other case “you replace a tactical victory with a strategic defeat.”
Speaking on Act Daily News’s “State of the Union,” Mr. Graham castigated Mr. Austin, a retired four-star common who fought in Iraq. “He’s so naïve; I mean I just lost all confidence in this guy,” Mr. Graham stated.
“If we were attacked like this, which we were on 9/11, if somebody called for us within two months to have a cease-fire against Al Qaeda, we’d have laughed them out of town, we’d have run them out of town,” Mr. Graham added. “Secretary Austin is telling Israel things that are impossible to achieve.”
Mr. Graham stated his resolution to the hostage deadlock can be to threaten Iran, the sponsor of Hamas. “I would go to Iran and say listen, you need to tell Hamas to let these hostages go,” he stated. “If you don’t, you’re going to start paying a heavier price.”
On the opposite aspect of the ideological spectrum, Representative Pramila Jayapal, Democrat of Washington, stated on the identical program that the Biden administration had a accountability to cease Israel from killing so many civilians.
“The United States cannot be backers of this kind of indiscriminate bombing — that is my firm belief,” she stated. “We should have conditions on military aid in the same way that we do for every other country.”
While the White House blamed Hamas for the breakdown in hostage talks, Ms. Jayapal faulted Israel.
“Qatar has said that Hamas is still at the table,” she stated, referring to the Persian Gulf emirate that has served because the middleman for the talks. “Israel should still be at the table. In fact, some of the Israeli hostages are saying that Israel should still be at the table, because this is complex negotiation and it doesn’t happen unless both sides are willing to come to some kind of an agreement.”
Hwaida Saad contributed reporting.
Source: www.nytimes.com