'Who Is Causing The Hang-Up Now?': State Department Spox Asked About Breakdown In Hostage Talks

3 months ago

State Department spokesperson Vedant Patel was asked about ongoing hostage negotiations between Hamas and Israel.

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00:00So on hostage talks, just to circle back, because, I mean, they took place in Rome.

00:05We know it was publicly reported.

00:06They broke up within a matter of hours with the Mossad director returning to Israel without

00:12an apparent breakthrough.

00:13I know you don't want to get into the nitty-gritty, but Hamas said that new conditions have been

00:18placed on the table by Israel.

00:19Is that inaccurate in your view?

00:21You are exactly right that I am not going to get into the nitty-gritty and outline the

00:25details of these negotiations publicly.

00:27I'll echo what I just said to Daphne and what you've heard Matt say as recently as last

00:32week.

00:33We are hopeful about the developments and the progress that is being made.

00:37These are processes that are ongoing.

00:39We believe a deal is both achievable and urgent.

00:42There are, of course, a number of complicated details that continue to need to be worked

00:46out, but I am not going to get into them specifically from up here.

00:51That would be unhelpful for the process.

00:54What I can say is that there has been too much suffering for far too long, and we believe

00:59that it's time for this war to end.

01:01We think that a ceasefire can unlock a great deal.

01:04We think it creates the ability for hostages, the remaining hostages, to be returned home,

01:10including the remaining Americans.

01:12We believe that it creates the conditions so that an additional influx of humanitarian

01:17aid can make its way into Gaza to help address the dire circumstances in Gaza.

01:23And perhaps most importantly, it creates the condition that will allow relevant actors

01:29to have serious diplomatic conversations about the region's future and get us out of these

01:35endless cycles of violence.

01:37That's what we think is at stake, and that's what we're going to continue to work towards.

01:40But I know that there is a lot of interest in the details and the negotiations and the

01:46back and forth, and I am just not going to get into those publicly.

01:49Sure.

01:50It's just for consistency, because you and Matt and other U.S. officials have not

01:53hesitated to say when the ball is in Hamas's court, so I'm just wondering whose court the

01:57ball is in now.

01:58I mean, U.S. officials last week made a – went to great lengths to stress how much they were

02:02dialing up the pressure on Prime Minister Netanyahu that the deal is closable, it needs

02:06to be closed, subject to some implementation issues.

02:09So who is causing the hang-up now?

02:13I'm not going to get into – again, I'm not going to get into the specifics of the

02:16negotiations, but let's look at this from a little bit of a wider lens and take a step

02:22back here.

02:23Consistently, since when – I believe it was about a month and a half ago when President

02:29Biden went into the Roosevelt Room and laid out the contours of this proposal that had

02:33been on the table, this proposal that Israel had agreed to, that Arab partners had agreed

02:38to, that the United Nations had supported, that the UN Security Council had supported.

02:44Time and time again, it continued to be Hamas that changed pieces of the deal and changed

02:49pieces of the proposal.

02:51So this is a process that is ongoing, and we're going to continue to work with – work

02:57through this process, and I'm not going to get into the specifics.

'Who Is Causing The Hang-Up Now?': State Department Spox Asked About Breakdown In Hostage Talks

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