State Department Official Asked If Death Of Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh Will Hurt Ceasefire Talks

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At a State Department press briefing on Wednesday, Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel was asked about ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas.

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Transcript

00:00Does Nick have cooties or something?

00:03I'm just – I'm just showcasing – I don't have anything off the top.

00:08Daphne, do you want to kick us off?

00:09Yeah.

00:11So on the attacks in Beirut and Tehran, are you concerned that this complicates the ceasefire

00:15talks?

00:16So first, to take a little bit of a step back, we have, of course, seen the news and the

00:21statement from Hamas, but I don't have anything additional to offer on that, and I don't

00:27want to speculate at this time about this incident or possible reactions.

00:30We, of course, continue to be in touch with governments in the region.

00:33You all have seen calls from the Secretary, readouts of calls that he's had with regional

00:38partners.

00:39Our priority continues to be to promote diplomatic solutions for a more peaceful, secure, and

00:45integrated region, and that, of course, includes continuing to engage and work very hard to

00:51close the remaining gaps as it relates to a ceasefire in Gaza.

00:55Getting this deal done, bringing the hostages home, getting an influx of humanitarian aid,

00:59ending the violence in Gaza, it remains incredibly important, and I'm not going to speculate

01:05on any potential impacts.

01:07It continues to be a priority for the United States.

01:10We know it's a priority for regional partners.

01:13We know it's a priority for Israel, and so we'll continue to work at it.

01:19I mean, both Qatar and Egypt, which have acted as mediators in the talks, suggested that

01:24the killing of the Hamas leader in Tehran could further jeopardize efforts to secure

01:27a truce in Gaza.

01:28Do you share that concern?

01:29So as I just said, I'm just not going to speculate on any impacts here.

01:33How can you move the talks forward at this point, given everything that's gone on in

01:37the past 24 hours?

01:38We spoke a little bit about this yesterday, Daphne.

01:40I'm not going to speak to the specific inner workings of the ongoing negotiation process

01:45and the effort that is continuing to be done underway to close these gaps and to get this

01:52deal done.

01:53It's something that we're going to remain focused on, but I'm not going to get into

01:57more specifics beyond that.

01:59And then we reported that the U.S. was seeking to deter Israel from striking Beirut in retaliation

02:04for the attack over the weekend.

02:05Do you feel Israel has ignored your warnings, and what conversations have you had with Israel

02:09today?

02:10So just to reiterate what you heard the Secretary say in an interview in Singapore, we were

02:17not involved in this mission or operation, and certainly I'm not going to get into

02:23specific private diplomatic discussions.

02:27What I can say is that our priority region-wide continues to be promoting diplomatic solutions

02:33for a more peaceful and secure region.

02:35That's what we're going to continue to remain focused on.

02:37Those have been at the core tenets of the conversations that the Secretary has had

02:42in the past half a day in the region, continuing to talk to counterparts about ways we can

02:48continue to push and make a ceasefire happen, and that's what we'll keep focused on.

02:53Has he spoken with or will he speak with Israelis?

02:56I don't have any calls to preview at this time, Daphne.

02:59As you guys have saw, he had the opportunity to speak to his counterparts in Qatar as well

03:05as Jordan, and per usual, any other call readouts that we have, we'll make sure to

03:10share those with you.

03:11Olivia, go ahead.

State Department Official Asked If Death Of Hamas Leader Ismail Haniyeh Will Hurt Ceasefire Talks

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