By Ellen Knickmeyer & Aamer Madhani | The Associated Press WASHINGTON—The Biden administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were sharply at odds Thursday over prospects of reaching a deal for a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release, with Netanyahu saying it was “exactly inaccurate” that a breakthrough was close.
WASHINGTON—The Biden administration and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were sharply at odds Thursday over prospects of reaching a deal for a Gaza cease-fire and hostage release, with Netanyahu saying it was “exactly inaccurate” that a breakthrough was close.
President Joe Biden’s team, a lame-duck administration two months before the election, has projected optimism this summer as it works with fellow mediators Egypt and Qatar to try to get Israel and Hamas to agree to a truce in the 11-month war in Gaza. The deal would release more of the hostages taken by Hamas during its October 7 attack on Israel, including Americans, in exchange for Palestinian prisoners—one of the big sticking points.
“To ask Israel to make concessions after this murder is to send a message to Hamas: Murder more hostages, you’ll get more concessions,” Netanyahu said Thursday. “That’s the wrong thing to do, and I think the Israel public overwhelming is united against that.” “We see time and again that Israel agrees to certain terms,” said Shira Efron, a policy adviser at the US-based Israel Policy Forum, which analyzes Israeli-Palestinian relations. “It doesn’t say no, it agrees to certain terms—but then says, ‘Yes, but under those conditions.’”
US officials say Israeli officials, including Netanyahu, have been more agreeable to negotiations in private discussions than in their public statements.
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