When hostages are freed, there will be a spike in gasoline, humanitarian help, and a break in hostilities, according to Brett McGurk, President Joe Biden’s coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa.
Speaking at the IISS Manama Dialogue, a regional security conference held in Bahrain, McGurk said that thus far, the US’s strategy had aided in hostage negotiations.
On October 7, Hamas, which is designated as a terrorist organisation by the US and the EU, invaded southern Israeli villages, murdering almost 1,200 people and capturing 240 more as prisoners to return to Gaza. In response, Israel launched a ground invasion and heavy bombings on the enclave, which according to the government controlled by Hamas had killed nearly 12,000 people.
Just four hostages—two of whom are nationals of the United States—have been freed. Israeli officials and Hamas claim that Israel has liberated one person and that other others are known to have perished.
According to Abu Obaida, a spokesman for Hamas’ military branch, the organisation has lost communication with units tasked with protecting some of the captives. In a statement, he stated, “The fate of the captives and captors is still unknown.”
Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the reigning emir of Qatar, and Biden discussed on Friday how to make sure Hamas releases additional prisoners. Along with other Arab nations like Egypt, Qatar has acted as a mediator in the hostage discussions and is home to some of the political leadership of Hamas.
Biden stated, “My team and I are working hour by hour, doing everything we can to get the hostages released,” in an opinion piece that appeared in the Washington Post on Saturday.
The negotiations over the hostages have been tense, with Israel and Hamas holding each other accountable for some of the breakdowns.
Through the Rafah crossing with Egypt, more aid—mostly food and medication—has been sent to Gaza in recent weeks. On Wednesday, fuel was delivered in for the first time since the violence broke out. Israel had been hesitant to approve it, claiming Hamas would utilise it for armed activities. But as Gaza’s hospitals and water facilities run out of fuel for their generators, it has come under increasing criticism, especially from the US.
The quantity of food and fuel entering Gaza, according to the UN, is still far from sufficient to alleviate what both Palestinian and UN authorities describe as a humanitarian catastrophe.
Two Americans, a mother and her daughter, were released as a pilot project for what McGurk stated was “a track we have pursued that led to what we hope will be a much larger release.” “There would be a significant pause in fighting, a significant pause in fighting, and a massive surge in humanitarian relief” if so many captives were freed.
The effort to connect the humanitarian crisis in Gaza with the release of hostages was denounced by the foreign minister of Jordan.
At the same occasion in Bahrain, Ayman Safadi, the deputy prime minister of Jordan, stated, “I just don’t find it acceptable that Israel links humanitarian aid to the release of hostages.” He made reference to the people living in Gaza when he declared, “Israel is taking 2.3 million Palestinians hostage.”