Two American officials in President Joe Biden’s administration revealed a Washington inclination to reach a deal with Hamas aimed at releasing American prisoners from the Gaza Strip.
NBC News quoted two officials in the Biden administration and two former officials as saying that Washington aims to secure a deal with Hamas to release five American prisoners from the Gaza Strip.
The network explained that American officials linked the potential deal in case the current ceasefire talks between the occupation state and Hamas fail.
According to NBC, the US officials said, “Such negotiations will not involve Israel and will be conducted through Qatari mediators, as in the current talks.”
The Biden administration said that it believes Hamas is holding five prisoners of American nationality captured in the “Al-Aqsa Storm” operation.
While Hamas has not yet commented on these reports, NBC quoted American officials as saying, “Hamas may have an incentive to conclude a unilateral agreement with the United States because doing so is likely to increase tension in relations between America and Israel, and put additional internal political pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.”
One former official said that internal discussions were also held on whether the possibility of the United States reaching a unilateral agreement with Hamas might pressure Netanyahu to agree to a version of the current ceasefire proposal.
In the first Israeli comment on these reports, the Israeli broadcasting authority quoted officials as saying, “We are not aware that the Biden administration is negotiating with Hamas for the release of American detainees.”
Quoting Israeli officials, it added that “the US administration confirms that it is working to release all detainees.”
It is worth noting that the Nasirat operation, which resulted in the occupation releasing four of its prisoners in the Gaza Strip, was carried out with American participation and resulted in a heinous massacre that claimed the lives of more than 270 Palestinians.
