Biden “confirmed Israel’s readiness to move forward with the terms that have now been offered to Hamas” and “urged [the emir] to use all appropriate measures to secure Hamas’ acceptance of the deal,” the White House said in a readout of the call the two leaders held.
It was unclear whether Biden was referring to a new readiness from Israel to reach a deal. Hours earlier, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu claimed there were gaps between what Biden declared on Friday was the latest Israeli hostage deal proposal and what Israel’s war cabinet had actually authorized days earlier.
As for Biden’s directive to Qatar, it appeared to be one of the furthest-reaching public entreaties to date that the US has directed at Doha, which hosts many of Hamas’s political leaders. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken privately told Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Thani in April that Doha should expel Hamas’s leaders if they continue rejecting hostage deal proposals, a US official said.
Several weeks later, Qatar quietly ordered Hamas leaders to leave Doha, then allowed them to return when hostage negotiations picked up again in May, two officials told The Times of Israel.
Hamas officials have remained in Qatar since those negotiations fell apart, but a source familiar with the matter told The Times of Israel that Doha is still prepared to formally and publicly oust Hamas’s leaders if an official request to do so is made by the Biden administration. The US is weighing its desire to squeeze Hamas to agree to a hostage deal against its concern that the terror group could move to another country that is less swayed by Washington’s interests, the source said. READ MORE