Tags: brett mcgurk | egypt | qatar | officials | release | hostages | hamas

US Sends Official to Cairo, Doha for Hostage Talks

By    |   Monday, 22 January 2024 10:12 AM EST

Brett McGurk, the U.S. National Security Council's coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, headed to the region on Sunday for talks with Egyptian and Qatari officials on another deal to release the remaining hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

McGurk's first stop was Cairo, where he was expected to meet with Egyptian Intelligence Minister Abbas Kamel. He was then to fly to Doha to meet with the country's prime minister and foreign minister, Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani.

Egypt and Qatar helped broker a deal in November that saw the release of more than 100 hostages. According to the IDF, 136 hostages are still being held in Gaza out of 240 taken during the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7, although many are believed to be dead.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday night rejected Hamas' latest terms for a new hostage deal as constituting surrender.

"Regarding our hostages, we have brought back 110 of them so far, and we are committed to bringing them all back. This is one of the war's objectives, and military pressure is an essential condition for its completion," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu said he "outright rejects the Hamas monsters' terms of surrender. In exchange for the release of our hostages, Hamas demands the end of the war, the withdrawal of our forces from Gaza, the release of all the Nukhba [terrorist commando] murderers and rapists, and leaving Hamas intact.

"If we agree to this, our soldiers will have fallen in vain. If we agree to this, we will not be able to guarantee the security of our citizens," Netanyahu. "We will not be able to return the evacuees safely to their homes, and the next October 7 will only be a matter of time."

Israel Defense Forces operations continued across Gaza as the war against Hamas entered its 108th day on Monday, with a combined ground and aerial attack eliminating an armed terrorist cell in the Strip's north.

After killing the terrorists, an Israeli Air Force jet struck the compound where the squad was operating.

In another joint ground and aerial operation in the central Strip, several terrorists who tried to ambush troops were killed in an airstrike.

Furthermore, in Maghazi in central Gaza, soldiers from the Yiftach Brigade — the commando force of the IDF's 99th Division composed mostly of veterans of the elite Egoz Unit — located a weapons production site in a Hamas command and control center and a loaded rocket launcher in a nearby olive grove.

The IDF destroyed the factories, weapons and rocket launcher.

During the operation, troops engaged with terrorists after an RPG was fired at an IDF tank. Ground and aerial forces killed several of the terrorists.

This JNS.org report was republished with permission from Jewish News Syndicate.

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GlobalTalk
Brett McGurk, the U.S. National Security Council's coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, headed to the region on Sunday for talks with Egyptian and Qatari officials on another deal to release the remaining hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
brett mcgurk, egypt, qatar, officials, release, hostages, hamas, gaza strip
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2024-12-22
Monday, 22 January 2024 10:12 AM
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