April 8 (UPI) — Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns presented a new proposal over the weekend seeking to reduce differences in negotiations between Israel and Hamas on securing the release of Israeli hostages and a cease-fire in the war, the White House said Monday.
Speaking to reporters in a press gaggle, White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby confirmed reports that Burns in Cairo on Sunday had presented Hamas with a new proposal.
“The administration is doing everything possible to broker a deal that secures the release of all the hostages and leads to an immediate cease-fire,” he said. “And there’s simply no higher priority.”
It is believed that about 130 of the 253 hostages, Hamas abducted from Israel during its surprise attack on Oct. 7, remain captives of the Iran proxy militia. Securing their release has been named as one of Israel’s objectives of its now six-month war.
Though specifics of the deal were scant, both Axios and CNN, citing unnamed sources, reported that it would include the swapping of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners for 40 Israeli hostages during a ceasefire.
“We’re waiting on Hamas’ response,” Kirby said.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel said in a recorded statement on Monday that he has received a detailed report on the talks in Cairo, which involved officials from Qatar, Egypt and Israel.
“We are working constantly to attain our objectives, first and foremost the release of all of our hostages and the achieving of total victory,” he said. Netanyahu has laid out total victory means the release of all Israeli hostages, the assurance that Gaza will never pose a threat to Israel again and the deaths of all Hamas leaders.
On Monday night, his office said Brig. Gen. Gal Hirsch, coordinator of the hostages and the missing, met with U.S. Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens and other U.S. officials in Tel Aviv, where they discussed the ongoing efforts.
