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
Asaad Hassan al-Shibani, Syria's newly appointed Foreign Minister, has publicly acknowledged Israel's existence as an "undeniable reality" and suggested that Syria may be open to future negotiations under certain conditions.
Egypt's food industry has achieved unprecedented growth in 2024, with exports totaling $5.5 billion between January and November. This represents a 17% increase compared to the $4.7 billion recorded during the same period in 2023, marking an additional $813 million in revenue.
Israeli prosecutors indicted on Thursday Alexander Granovsky, a 29-year-old resident of Petah Tikva, on charges of espionage and national security offenses for allegedly collaborating with Iranian operatives.
To make this website run properly and to improve your experience, we use cookies. For more detailed information, please check our Cookie Policy.
Necessary cookies enable core functionality. The website cannot function properly without these cookies, and can only be disabled by changing your browser preferences.