U.S. Middle East envoy Brett McGurk will travel to the region this week for continued talks on securing the release of hostages held by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, a senior Biden administration official said on Tuesday.
Brett McGurk © ACP
U.S. Middle East envoy Brett McGurk will travel to the region this week for continued talks on securing the release of hostages held by Palestinian Islamist group Hamas in Gaza, a senior Biden administration official said on Tuesday.
McGurk, who participated in earlier negotiations, will visit Egypt on Wednesday and Israel on Thursday, the official said.
The meetings are the latest in ongoing talks between the United States, Egypt, Israel and Qatar that seek to broker a pause in the war and the release of more than 100 hostages held by Hamas following its deadly Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
Meanwhile, the U.S. is also proposing a draft United Nations Security Council resolution calling for a temporary ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and opposing a major ground offensive by its ally Israel in Rafah, after signaling a U.S. veto on a rival resolution on Tuesday that it said could jeopardize talks.
The United States does "not plan to rush" to a vote in order to allow time for negotiations, a senior U.S. administration official told Reuters on Monday, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
U.S. officials have said the ongoing hostage talks have been productive but have required more ongoing work.
Reporting by Steve Holland
An Israeli airstrike on Sunday killed a senior officer of the Hamas-run Palestinian internal security service in the Gaza Strip and an associate as they travelled in a vehicle through Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza, medics and police officials said.
On Friday, the United Nations General Assembly handed High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk a fresh four-year mandate, ignoring clear opposition from the United States, Russia, and Israel.
President Donald Trump said on Saturday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will visit the U.S. next week.
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