US officials see hostage deal ‘close to collapse’ as Blinken leaves Middle East without results

After the United States expressed great optimism about the prospects of the current round of hostage deal negotiations for several weeks, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken left the Middle East on Tuesday without tangible results.

U.S. officials told Politico they believe the deal is now on the verge of collapsing.

In recent months, U.S. officials had given unprecedently optimistic assessments after the hostage release talks had appeared hopeless for most of the duration of the war.

Only five days ago, U.S. President Joe Biden said, “We’re closer than we’ve ever been.”

However, the Hamas terror group officially rejected the “bridging proposal” agreed upon by the mediating countries and Israel. Jerusalem had never joined in the optimism.

After Blinken initially dismissed Hamas’ openly stated intentions, saying, “We’ve seen public statements before that don’t fully reflect where Hamas is,” he was forced to conclude visits to Israel, Egypt and Qatar without any tangible progress.

During a press briefing in Qatar before his return home, Blinken reiterated that there was “fierce urgency” to get the deal “done in the days ahead, and we will do everything possible to get it across the finish line.”

To reach an agreement, both Israel and Hamas must “do what's necessary to bring the flexibility to the table,” he emphasized.

“Over the coming days, we are going to do everything possible to get Hamas on board,” Blinken said.

“Time is of the essence because, with every passing day, the well-being and lives of the hostages are in jeopardy,” he added.

He also reiterated that Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to the proposal, including withdrawals of IDF troops from the Gaza Strip.

Blinken did not provide further details about what this would mean for Israel’s presence at the Philadelphi and Netzarim Corridors, a condition that Netanyahu continues to insist upon.

“The agreement is very clear on the schedule and the locations of IDF withdrawals from Gaza and Israel has agreed to that,” Blinken said.

If the current proposal fails, there is no immediate alternative, according to two U.S. and two Israeli officials in an interview with Politico, expressing concern that the negotiations were close to collapsing.

Washington is especially frustrated that Hamas publicly rejected the proposal, as it had reportedly signaled it would be open to an agreement before the summit in Doha began, Politico wrote.

Despite this, some officials continue to believe Hamas’ statements might be “merely bluster, a negotiating tactic,” according to the report.

“We don’t know if Sinwar wants this deal,” one of the officials said. “But if we don’t get the deal there’s a chance that Iran attacks and this escalates into a full-blown confrontation.”

This highlights the Biden administration's primary concern with the negotiations, as it seems to pin all hopes of resolving various regional issues on the outcome of the deal.

“We’re working in our different ways to try to ensure that there is no escalation, sending the necessary messages to all of the potential actors, including Iran and Hezbollah, to avoid taking any steps that could escalate the conflict or spread it,” Blinken said Tuesday.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi concurred with Blinken’s assessment, adding the long-term solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to the list of desired outcomes of a hostage deal.

“The ceasefire in Gaza must be the beginning of broader international recognition of the Palestinian state and the implementation of the two-state solution, as this is the basic guarantor of stability in the region,” el-Sisi stated.

Additionally, Blinken said an agreement would end the attacks by the Yemeni Houthi rebels on the international shipping lanes in the Red Sea. He said the deal is also “the key to seeing if we can pursue a normalization agreement between Israel and Saudi Arabia, which both countries remain very interested in.”

“It’s the key to actually putting everyone, starting with Israel, on a path to greater peace and security,” Blinken summed up.