National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he did not know when hostage discussions will resume between Israel and Hamas will restart after the fighting reignited over the weekend.
Kirby said, “Well, there are no official negotiations going on right now, Kristen, and that’s because of Hamas. Hamas failed to come up with yet another list of women and children that could be released, and we know they’re holding additional women and children – not combatants, not female IDF soldiers, but innocent civilians, women and children that they have that they couldn’t put on a list and turn that in. So, unfortunately, the negotiations have stopped. That said, what hasn’t stopped is our own involvement, trying to get those back on track and trying to discuss with those partners and all those interlocutors, see if we can’t get it back in place.”
When asked about the negotiations continuing, Kirby added, “What I can tell you is that we are still working it really hard hour by hour to see if we can get the sides back to the table and see if we can get something moving. We would like that to happen today. But honestly, I just don’t know.”
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