U.S. officials now believe that a cease-fire deal between Israel and Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza is unlikely before President Joe Biden leaves office in January, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. The newspaper cited top-level officials in the White House, State Department and Pentagon without naming them. Those bodies did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
"I can tell you that we do not believe that deal is falling apart," Pentagon spokesperson Sabrina Singh told reporters on Thursday before the report was published.
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Joe Biden, Yahya Sinwar in a Hamas tunnel, Benjamin Netanyahu
(Photo: Evelyn Hockstein / Reuters, IDF, Haim Goldberg )
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said two weeks ago that 90% of a cease-fire deal had been agreed upon.
The United States and mediators Qatar and Egypt have for months attempted to secure a cease-fire but have failed to bring Israel and Hamas to a final agreement.
Two obstacles have been especially difficult: Israel's demand to keep forces in the Philadelphi corridor between Gaza and Egypt and the specifics of an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
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IDF forces destroy underground Hamas infrastructure along the Phladelphi Corridor
(Photo: IDF)
The United States has said a Gaza cease-fire deal could lower tensions across the Middle East amid fears the conflict could widen.
Biden laid out a three-phase cease-fire proposal on May 31 that he said at the time Israel agreed to. As the talks hit obstacles, officials have for weeks said a new proposal would soon be presented.