White House downbeat after senior officials say new Gaza propsal to be presented soon

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The White House distanced itself Tuesday from comments made by a pair of senior administration officials who said in recent days that Washington would soon be presenting Israel and Hamas with a new cease-fire proposal.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said the Biden administration is continuing to "diligently" work on moving talks forward, but said it is "not clear to us" whether the parties are "going to be able to get" to an agreement.

"What's not clear to us is whether Hamas will ever be able to come to the table in sincerity, and sign on to something, and so that's the complicating factor here. It doesn't mean that the work's not continuing. It is. Secretary (Antony) Blinken is right. We're still working on this," Kirby told reporters.

Kirby said Hamas put forward new terms to be added into the agreement, but did not specify what they included.

CIA Director William Burns, who has been serving as Washington's chief negotiator, said Friday that the US would present the parties with a new, more detailed Gaza cease-fire for prisoner swap proposal that would be presented "in the next several days."

The remarks were followed up by Secretary of State Antony Blinken who said Tuesday in the UK that Washington is working with Egypt and Qatar "to bridge any remaining gaps" in the talks, and that a new proposal would be put forward "very soon."

Nearly 41,000 Palestinians, the vast majority being women and children, have been killed in Gaza during the course of Israel's 11-month onslaught on the besieged Gaza Strip. The Hamas-led cross-border raid on Israel that precipitated the current round of hostilities killed 1,139 people.

About 250 others were taken to Gaza as hostages.

Senior Biden administration officials have said that 90% of the cease-fire for the prisoner-swap agreement has been agreed to by the parties. Left outstanding are the details on how the prisoner swap would play out, including the timing and how many Palestinian prisoners would be released in exchange for each hostage.