Political pressures on Biden helped drive ‘secret cell’ of aides in hostage talks

from NYT

Israel’s acceptance of the terms of a hostage deal with Hamas late on Tuesday reflected the intense pressure brought by the Biden administration to reach an agreement that would free some of those held by the armed group and produce potential longer-term opportunities to de-escalate the conflict.

The initial approval of the deal by the Israeli cabinet came after a “secret cell” of top aides to President Biden worked furiously over the past several weeks on a web of negotiations involving Qatar, Egypt and Israel, an effort hampered by communications outages in Gaza and a series of last-minute disputes that derailed the talks...

But the arrangement was also the latest example of the widening breach between the White House and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over Israel’s overwhelming response to the Hamas attacks, which has led to the deaths of about 12,000 people in Gaza...

“The war will continue,” Mr. Netanyahu said...

 

Administration officials continued pressing Israel and, through the intermediaries, Hamas. After Mr. Biden’s call, top aides, including the director of the C.I.A., met with the emir in Qatar to go over the latest draft — a six-page text with detailed steps for implementation on both sides.

Within a week, the diplomatic pressure paid off. On Tuesday evening, as the Israeli cabinet took its final vote to approve the deal,..

 In a statement on Tuesday night, Mr. Biden pledged to work with regional leaders “to ensure this deal is carried through in its entirety. It is important that all aspects of this deal be fully implemented.”...

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