A Democratic lawmaker said he is optimistic about talks to achieve a six-week pause in fighting between Israel and Hamas and allow for the release of Israeli hostages following conversations with negotiators in Egypt and Qatar.
Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-N.J.) said he returned Friday from a trip to the region earlier this week “hopeful that a temporary pause is within reach.”
President Biden on Thursday pushed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “empower” his negotiators to reach a deal with Hamas that would allow for a massive scale-up of humanitarian delivery to the beleaguered Gaza Strip and secure the release of hostages held by Hamas.
The U.S. has been working for months with Israel, Qatar and Egypt to negotiate with Hamas over the terms of a deal of a cease-fire, with negotiators in Cairo this week and weekend working to secure a deal.
“All the parties I know are working around the clock to make it happen,” Gottheimer said. Dual American and Israeli citizen and Israeli military soldier Edan Alexander, who is a constituent of Gottheimer's, has been held hostage by Hamas since being kidnapped by the group during its Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
While it’s believed that Hamas is holding around 100 Israelis hostage, it is unclear how many are alive.
Gottheimer said his impression in meeting with negotiators was that all parties were “fully engaged and focused on the negotiations” but he raised concern about recent reports over Hamas’s participation.
“I just read some news coming out saying that Hamas had rejected the latest round of offerings and exchanges. Which right now, unfortunately, as the negotiator explained to me, there was a lot of this back and forth. I saw the negotiations going on in real time,” Gottheimer said.
A Hamas official on Thursday said there had been no progress and blamed Netanyahu as an obstacle in the talks.
Hamas has reportedly demanded a full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza, a permanent cease-fire, the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza and a massive influx of humanitarian assistance. It is also demanding the release of an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.
The Biden administration has acknowledged that Hamas has earlier proposed non-starters and at times has not been serious in negotiations. But Biden’s remarks to Netanyahu signaled a more forceful stance from the White House on the challenge that the Israeli leader is posing to the negotiations. Netanyahu has pushed for keeping up military pressure on Hamas as a way to secure the release of hostages, but has had little to no success.
The IDF has succeeded in retrieving at least three hostages held by Hamas. But the IDF mistakenly shot and killed three hostages that had escaped Hamas on their own. A week-long cease-fire between Israel and Hamas in November saw Hamas release of more than 100 hostages.
Updated at 4:10 p.m.