CIA Director William Burns in Egypt for high-stakes Israeli hostage, cease-fire talks

[Pelican Press 0]

CIA Director William Burns in Egypt for high-stakes ******** ********, cease-***** talks

CIA Director William Burns arrived in Cairo, Friday for the latest round of high-stakes negotiations over a ******** and cease-***** deal between ****** and *******, two U.S. officials and a source familiar with the matter told CBS News. 

The visit follows a stretch of technical talks and a fresh proposal from ******* that U.S. officials have described as “generous.”

File: : Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns listens during a hearing with the House (Select) Intelligence Committee on March 12, 2024, in Washington, D.C. 

Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images

Egyptian intelligence officials, alongside senior Qatari and ********* negotiators, have been for months facilitating the talks, which in recent weeks have taken on new urgency amid a looming ******** ground invasion of Rafah, in southern Gaza, where more than 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering.

Burns’ arrival signals negotiators may be nearing a critical window that could be decisive for a potential agreement. It was not immediately clear whether negotiators from ******* and Qatar were expected to join Burns in Cairo, as they did in previous rounds. 

A person familiar with the status of the talks said there had been “some progress,” but parties were still in a wait-and-see mode. 

The CIA declined to comment on Burns’ travel. The office of ******** Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it had “nothing to say.”  

********* officials have publicly warned against an invasion of Rafah without a credible humanitarian plan. Earlier this week Netanyahu said ******* would invade the city whether or not a ******** deal was reached.

Speaking from ******* Wednesday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. position on Rafah was “clear” and would not change.

“We cannot, will not support a major military operation in Rafah, absent an effective plan to make sure that civilians are not harmed and no, we’ve not seen such a plan,” Blinken said.

He also urged ****** to take the deal on the table: “There is no time for delay. There’s no time for further haggling. The deal is there. They should take it.”

Talks hit repeated snags in recent weeks over the number and type of hostages to be released and the length of the accompanying pause in hostilities. 

****** militants took more than 240 hostages and ******* more than 1,200 Israelis during their deadly rampage into southern ******* on Oct. 7, 2023. The retaliatory military response by *******, now in its sixth month, has resulted in the deaths of more than 34,000 ************ civilians, most of them women and children, according to local health officials.

There are believed to 133 hostages still being held in Gaza, and five of the unaccounted for are U.S. citizens. Last week ****** released proof-of-life videos for two of the Americans, Hersh Goldberg Polin and Keith Siegel. In the *********** videos, the two hostages are seen speaking on camera under duress. Siegel pressed the ******** government to make a deal. 

The ******** government has grown increasingly concerned in recent days that the International ********* Court may issue arrest warrants for ******** leaders, including Netanyahu, for possible war ******* in Gaza.

In an interview with CBS News’ Norah O’Donnell last month, Burns, a former diplomat and veteran negotiator, said the monthslong talks were like “pushing a very big rock up a very steep hill,” though he said the U.S. believed ****** was “capable of releasing a number of hostages right now.”

“I think the region desperately needs that kind of a ceasefire,” Burns said.

Arden Farhi, Justine Redman and Camilla Schick contributed to this report.

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

*******
#CIA #Director #William #Burns #Egypt #highstakes #******** #******** #ceasefire #talks

This is the hidden content, please

• Sign In
• or
• Sign Up

For verified travel tips and real support, visit: https://hopzone.eu/