US President Calls On Egypt, Qatar To Pressure On Hamas To Accept Hostage Deal

On Friday, US President Joe Biden urged Egyptian and Qatari leaders for assistance in convincing Hamas to agree to a deal with Israel, an American official stated, ahead of meetings in Cairo.

The United States, Egypt, and Qatar have been in secret talks for weeks to arrange a temporary truce in the Gaza Strip and the release of Hamas hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners being detained in Israeli jails.

The White House announced earlier on Friday that negotiations would take place over the weekend in Cairo, but declined to confirm US media reports that CIA Director Bill Burns, Mossad chief David Barnea, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and Egypt’s intelligence chief Abbas Kamel would attend.

In a call with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, Biden made clear that everything must be done to secure the release of hostages, including American citizens, now held by Hamas terrorists for nearly six months.

According to an official, Biden on Friday wrote letters to the President of Egypt and the Emir of Qatar on the state of the talks and he urged them to secure commitments from Hamas to agree to and abide by a deal.

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