US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said that “for many months, Hamas has not been prepared to even do the basic things of coming to the table with the names of hostages,” amid the latest diplomatic push to broker a hostage release deal that ends the war in Gaza.
The comments in an interview with Channel 13 news that was broadcast Friday followed reports this week that Hamas gave mediators a list of hostages it is prepared to release in the first stage of a proposed agreement, though An Arab diplomat denied a Wall Street Journal report claiming as much.
Sullivan spoke in the present tense, saying “has” and not “had,” but it was not entirely clear whether he was revealing that Hamas has still yet to provide names of the hostages to date or whether he was referring to previous months before talks were again revived last week.
Pressed on whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been an obstacle in the talks, as Arab mediators from Qatar and Egypt have charged to The Times of Israel, Sullivan gave a diplomatic answer.
“Israel negotiated hard to defend and justify its position in this negotiation,” he said.
He was less generous regarding Hamas, saying the Palestinian terror group “has been deeply intransigent.”
“We have seen Hamas repeatedly, time and again, when the opportunity was there to do something, not be prepared to step up and do it,” Sullivan said.
“But we have also seen Israel and the Israeli government choose to drive a negotiation where it had its perspective on what was required in order to get the hostages home and ensure Israel’s security,” he added, without elaborating.
Israelis protest for the release of the hostages held by Hamas and other terror groups in Gaza outside the US Embassy Branch Office in Tel Aviv, December 12, 2024. (Erik Marmor/Flash90)
Asked whether US President-elect Donald Trump’s election and his threat of “all hell to pay” to those holding hostages in the Middle East were the reasons why there has been renewed optimism regarding the chances for a deal, Sullivan insisted they were unrelated.
The top Biden aide instead pointed to the shock collapse of the Assad regime, the ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon and Israel’s killing of Hamas leaders. “My view on why we are in [this] position… is not about American politics or the outcome of the election… It’s about the regional situation here,” he said.
“My conviction is that because of developments in the region, the moment is ripe; and it is my job to seize that moment to bring these people home, including American citizens, who have been away from their families for too long.”
As for the call from some hostage families to have a one-phase deal that sees all the remaining100 captives released at once, Sullivan said the US still believes that the three-phase framework that it has been pushing since it was proposed by Israel in May would be the most effective.
“Our judgment is that trying to proceed in phases and getting this thing started so people start coming out — that is the best way to get to the end of the process,” he said.
“We will obviously test that… and we will see what happens. But it’s the judgment of the US and of the mediators that operating in this way is the most likely method of getting everyone home safely to their loved ones in the shortest possible time.”
The families of hostages held in Gaza speak to the media at the White House in Washington, Nov. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
Echoing Sullivan’s remarks on the possibility of reaching a deal, an unnamed senior Israeli official quoted by Channel 12 news concurred with the US assessment that it was possible to secure an agreement before the end of the year.
The Kan public broadcaster meanwhile reported Friday that Palestinian sources familiar with the negotiations for the first time have expressed cautious optimism regarding Hamas’s willingness to agree to a deal. The sources credited simultaneous pressure that has been placed on the terror group from Qatar, Egypt and Turkey.
Earlier this week, an Arab diplomat told The Times of Israel that there have been indications that Israel and Hamas are willing to compromise regarding the terms of Israel’s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip. However, the diplomat stressed the main obstacle to the talks — whether the ceasefire will be permanent or temporary — remains unresolved.
As Sullivan and other Biden administration officials push for a hostage deal, members of the incoming Trump administration have also been engaging in international diplomacy, with Axios reporting Friday that the president-elect’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff visited Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and met Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman.
One of the sources said that Witkoff and the Saudi royal, known by his initials MBS, discussed US-Saudi ties, the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, potential normalization between Riyadh and Jerusalem and other matters.
Massad Boulos, the father-in-law of Trump’s daughter Tiffany who was appointed as a senior adviser on Arab and Middle East issues, met the Qatari prime minister in Doha this week, Axios also reported.
Islamic Jihad rocket fire
Fighting between Israel and terror operatives continued Friday in Gaza, where two rockets were launched in the evening at southern Israel.
The military said air defenses intercepted the two projectiles, which triggered sirens in Ashkelon and surrounding towns near the Gaza border.
There were no reports of injuries or damage.
Palestinian Islamic Jihad took responsibility for the rocket fire, which has become a relative rarity after the 14 months of war that were sparked by the devastating Hamas-led invasion of southern Israel on October 7, 2023, with IDF aerial and ground operations having greatly depleted the arsenals of Hamas and other Gaza-based terror factions.
Rocket launchers found by IDF troops in northern Gaza’s Beit Lahiya, in a handout photo issued on December 13, 2024. (Israel Defense Forces)
Late Friday, the Israel Defense Forces issued an evacuation warning for Palestinians in the area of the launch site, south of Jabalia in northern Gaza.
“Terror organizations are once again firing rockets from this area, which has been warned several times in the past,” Col. Avichay Adraee, the IDF’s Arabic-language spokesman said, publishing a map of the zones that are to be evacuated.
Civilians in the area were called on to move to shelters in central Gaza City.
Times of Israel staff and Reuters contributed to this report.
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