On Monday’s broadcast of CNBC’s “Money Movers,” U.S. Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew said that Israel has taken American advice on “how to ratchet back the extent of force used” in Gaza but getting a ceasefire “means that Hamas will have to be willing to accept an agreement. And that means that Yahya Sinwar will have to be willing to accept an agreement. I can’t say we’re there,” and Iran has engaged in “an escalation” with its missile attack.
Lew said that Iran’s missile attack last week “showed an escalation in terms of the weapons that were being used and the risk it put people at.”
Later, he said, “[O]ur view is that there should be a ceasefire and a hostage release deal in Gaza as quickly as possible. Obviously, that is not yet concluded. But we have not given up on it and we think it’s the best way to bring home the 101 remaining hostages. And on the beginning of the second year after October [7], time has already long since passed [that] that should be achieved. So, that is something that it depends, unfortunately, on both sides being willing. And means that Hamas will have to be willing to accept an agreement. And that means that Yahya Sinwar will have to be willing to accept an agreement. I can’t say we’re there, but I think that we are ready to jump back into a negotiation on that.”
Lew added, “If you look at the way the war in Gaza has been fought in the last month, it’s way scaled back in terms of casualties. And that’s, in part, because of things that we have advised about how to ratchet back the extent of force used and moving people out of harm’s way.”
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