White House expects Gaza cease-fire talks to continue Friday as negotiators focus on implementation

WASHINGTON

Negotiations in Qatar on a long-elusive cease-fire to end the war in the Gaza Strip will continue into Friday as negotiators seek to finalize details on implementation, the White House said Thursday.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said there "remains a lot of work to do" on the agreement, which would end hostilities for at least six weeks, facilitate the flow of badly-needed humanitarian assistance and release some of the remaining hostages held by the Palestinian group, Hamas, in the coastal enclave.

"Given the complexity of the agreement, we do not anticipate coming out of these talks today with a deal. In fact, I'd expect the talks to continue into tomorrow. This is vital work," he told reporters during a virtual briefing.

"The remaining obstacles can be overcome, and we must bring this process to a close. We need to see the hostages released, relief for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, security for Israel, and lower tensions in the region, and we need to see those things as soon as possible. So, today is a promising start, and we'll have more to say over the course of the day and into tomorrow as things move forward," he added.

Kirby made the comments just as negotiations began. He said the framework of the agreement has largely been agreed to by the parties and the remaining gaps are in the "execution of the deal."

He declined to specify individual areas of disagreement that remain.

The State Department echoed Kirby's remarks and said the "broader framework" of President Joe Biden's three-phase Gaza cease-fire and hostage deal which he laid out at the end of May "has generally been accepted."

"But of course, this is a negotiation with two parties, and this is a process, and you sort of see what the text of the agreement is, and there's a back and forth, and there's an exchange, and there is engagement," said spokesman Vedant Patel. "There, of course, still gaps when it comes to some of the details. There are gaps when it comes to execution. There are specific implementing measures that need to be agreed upon.”

Mediators from the US, Qatar, Egypt and Israel are taking part in the discussions. Hamas said Wednesday it would not join the latest round of talks, maintaining the group is interested in discussing the deal's implementation rather than additional content.

Asked about Hamas' absence from the discussions, Kirby said the current format is similar to past rounds of talks in which mediators from Qatar and Egypt would coordinate with Hamas.

"In the past, it has worked very similar to how it's working in Doha today where mediators will sit and discuss, work things out, and then those mediators will be in touch with Hamas, and then Hamas leaders in Doha then communicate directly with Mr. Sinwar for final answers," he said.

Kirby was referring to Yahya Sinwar, Hamas' top official in Gaza who was named the group's senior political leader following the July 31 assassination of Ismail Haniyeh in the Iranian capital of Tehran.

CIA Director Bill Burns and Brett McGurk, Biden's senior official for the Middle East, are representing the US at the negotiating table.

More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed during Israel's war in Gaza, the vast majority being women and children. Vast tracts of the coastal territory have been completely leveled amid relentless Israeli bombardment that has reduced entire neighborhoods to rubble.

Gazans continue to face acute shortages of food, water and medicine due to Israeli restrictions on the entry of humanitarian assistance, as well as the significant curtailment of movement for aid convoys once they enter the Strip.

A total of 1,139 people were killed in the cross-border attack led by Hamas on Oct. 7, which precipitated the current war.

*Contribution from Rabia Iclal Turan at State Department