White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt avoids giving a deadline for the indirect talks that commenced today in Egypt between Israel and Hamas aimed at reaching an agreement on US President Donald Trump’s proposal for ending the war in Gaza.
“There are technical talks happening right now in Egypt among Special Envoy Witkoff and Mr. [Jared] Kushner as well as respective parties from all sides,” Leavitt says during a press briefing.
An Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel, though, that while Witkoff and Kushner are in Egypt, they will only be personally joining the negotiations when they are ready to be finalized.
Today’s first day of the talks is mainly for allowing the sides to lay out their positions and for mediators to identify what the remaining gaps are and how to close them, the diplomat says.
Leavitt notes that “All sides of this conflict [already] agree that this war needs to end and agree to the 20-point framework that President Trump proposed.”
“The technical teams are discussing that as we speak to ensure that the environment is perfect to release the hostages.”
“They’re going over the list of both the Israeli hostages and also the political prisoners who will be released,” she says, in what appears to be the first time that a Trump official has referred to Palestinian security prisoners as such. However, it seems more likely a slip of the tongue, rather than a new policy decision.
Pressed on a timeline for how long talks in Egypt will last, Leavitt avoids getting specific.
“It’s important that we get this done quickly so that we can get some momentum, get the hostages out, and then move to the next part of this, which is ensuring that we can create a lasting, durable peace in Gaza and ensure that Gaza is no longer a place that threatens the security of Israel or the United States,” she says, apparently splitting Trump’s Gaza proposal into two — with the first part being the release of the hostages and the second part being the post-war management of Gaza.
No comments:
Post a Comment