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Top U.S. Officials Are in the Middle East to Try to Jumpstart Cease-Fire Talks
William Burns, the C.I.A. director, made a last-ditch attempt to move Gaza talks along before U.S. elections next week.
Top Biden administration negotiators visited the Middle East on Thursday for a last diplomatic drive before the American election, though hopes were not high for quick agreements to pause the fighting.
With Israel battling Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, William J. Burns, the C.I.A. director and a top American negotiator, met with officials in Cairo on Thursday, including the Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi. At the same time, President Biden’s Middle East coordinator, Brett McGurk, and his de facto envoy on the conflict with Hezbollah, Amos Hochstein, held talks in Israel with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and with Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defense minister.
The purpose of the meetings was to de-escalate the wars in Gaza and Lebanon, according to statements by some of the governments involved. But progress in cease-fire talks seems unlikely in the coming days, with the election looming on Tuesday in the United States, and the various sides expressing a reluctance to compromise.
Officials briefed on Israel’s internal thinking, speaking on the condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy, have said that Mr. Netanyahu is waiting to see the election results before committing to a diplomatic trajectory. And Hamas has rejected proposals for a temporary truce in Gaza, saying it will only consider a permanent end to the fighting.
In Cairo, Mr. Burns and Mr. el-Sisi discussed “ways to push negotiations forward” toward a cease-fire and the exchange of hostages held in Gaza for Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, a statement from the Egyptian leader’s office said. About 100 hostages captured in the Hamas attack in Israel last October remain in Gaza, and Israeli officials believe about two-thirds are still alive.
Earlier in the week, during talks among envoys from Israel, the United States and the two countries that mediate for Hamas, Egypt and Qatar, possible proposals emerged for an initial, temporary cease-fire in Gaza that would lead to the return of a small group of hostages.
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