The White House blasted "extremists" in the Israeli government, saying they are standing in the way of a renewed push by the United States, Qatar and Egypt for a deal to halt the fighting in Gaza and secure the release of the hostages.
In a briefing to reporters Friday, John Kirby, the White House national security communications adviser, accused Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich of "misleading the Israeli public" in opposing cease-fire negotiations.
"This deal was negotiated over months, fully protects Israel's national security interests," Kirby said. "In fact, on the third of July, over one month ago, Hamas accepted the key terms that had been demanded by Israel."
Smotrich's argument that the war in Gaza should continue indefinitely is "dead wrong," Kirby added.
The unusually harsh statements reflect the Biden administration's growing frustration with far-right members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's coalition, who have presented some of the biggest political obstacles to ending the war.
Smotrich announced his opposition to negotiations Friday, saying the U.S. and other international allies were pushing Israel into "a dangerous trap." He urged Netanyahu not to sign a "surrender agreement" that would leave the country weakened.
Netanyahu said Friday he would resume cease-fire talks, following a joint statement Thursday by U.S. President Joe Biden and leaders of key mediators Qatar and Egypt calling for resumption of talks.
"Pursuant to the proposal by the U.S. and the mediators, Israel will — on 15 August — send the negotiations team to a place to be determined in order to finalize the details of the implementation of the framework agreement," Netanyahu's office said in a statement.
When pushed by Washington, Netanyahu has typically expressed willingness to send delegations to talks. He has, however, repeatedly found ways to delay and demand additional conditions "to prevent a deal and portray Hamas as the main one to blame," said Nimrod Goren, senior fellow for Israeli Affairs at the Middle East Institute.
"There are still no indications that this time he will act differently," Goren told VOA.
With the Israeli Knesset on a three-month recess and unable to vote the prime minister out of power for signing a cease-fire, many are hoping Netanyahu will agree to at least phase one of the deal, which would deliver a six-week truce for the release of some hostages held by Hamas in exchange for some Palestinians in Israeli prisons.
Khan Younis offensive
Hours after Netanyahu agreed to participate in cease-fire talks, the Israel Defense Forces announced it had launched an offensive in the Khan Younis area in southern Gaza, the third such ground operation conducted since Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel.
Israel said the campaign was in response to Palestinian rocket fire and "intelligence indicating the presence of terrorists and terror infrastructure." Residents and displaced people were told to evacuate the area where many had just returned after Israel's last incursion into the city in July.
U.S. and Israeli officials have said that new Hamas leader, Yahya Sinwar, is believed to be in hiding in Khan Younis. The October 7 mastermind was recently named to replace Ismail Haniyeh, who was killed in the Iranian capital of Tehran in an assassination widely attributed to Israel.
Hamas has not responded to the calls to resume talks as Sinwar cannot be quickly reached by intermediaries. However, Kirby said that the Qataris have assured the U.S. that Hamas representatives will come to the table.
'The time has come'
In a joint statement Thursday, Biden, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi and the Qatar Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani underscored "the time has come" to reach a deal.
The leaders agreed to present a "final bridging proposal" to resolve "remaining implementation issues," if necessary. Kirby and other officials declined to elaborate on the proposal.
The state of negotiations is now less about substance or language and more about political calculations and the timetable between Netanyahu, Sinwar and Biden, said Aaron David Miller, a former U.S. negotiator for the Middle East who is now a senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
It's unclear whether Netanyahu and Sinwar are ready to proceed at the pace of "the Biden clock, which is running very fast," Miller told VOA.
Miller noted that Biden's Democratic Party is gearing up for its national convention on August 19, when Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz will be celebrated as the ticket to rival Republican nominees, former President Donald Trump and Ohio Senator JD Vance, in the November election.
Democrats are keen to avoid the optics of massive anti-war demonstrations at the convention from progressive and young voters, as well as Arab and Muslim Americans angered by the president's staunch support for Israel. Some of these groups have threatened to withhold their vote for the Democratic ticket.
The White House denies that domestic politics is a motivating factor.
Efforts to resume negotiations have "nothing to do" with the upcoming convention and "everything to do" with what regional partners believe is reasonable for scheduling talks, Kirby told VOA during the briefing Friday.
Kirby and other U.S. officials say expectations that Tehran will attack Israel in retaliation for Haniyeh's killing last week on Iranian soil have added to the urgency for a truce. Israel also faces retaliation from Hezbollah in southern Lebanon in the wake of its strike in the suburbs of Beirut last week that killed Fouad Shukur, a commander of the Iranian-backed group. Tehran-backed militias have also launched attacks on U.S. military positions in Iraq and Syria in recent weeks, ending months of calm.
However, Tehran appears to be signaling moderation in its response. The Iranian mission to the United Nations in New York said in a statement Friday that its “priority is to establish a lasting ceasefire in Gaza,” and that it would recognize “any agreement accepted by Hamas.” The Iranian response to Israel, it said, “will be timed and conducted in a manner not to the detriment of the potential ceasefire.”
'Last-ditch effort'
The renewed cease-fire push is a "last-ditch effort to prevent regional escalation that harms U.S. interests and could trigger an unnecessary confrontation before the U.S, elections," said Ahmed Fouad Alkhatib, senior fellow at the Atlantic Council.
"Stabilizing Gaza and preventing uncontrollable downward spiraling of events in the Middle East would rob the Trump campaign of their claim that the Biden administration and a future Harris presidency have failed to prevent conflict and war," Alkhatib told VOA.
Israelis are bracing for attacks.
"We're all pretty certain that Hezbollah and Iran are going to launch rather a lot of missiles," said Jonathan Rynhold, head of the political studies department at Israel's Bar-Ilan University.
"The question is, how bad?" Rynhold told VOA. If the parties manage to refrain from a wider war, "there's a better chance for a deal," he added.
Leaders across Europe, including European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and French President Emmanuel Macron, again Friday expressed support for a cease-fire.
VOA's Natasha Mozgovaya and Michael Lipin contributed to this report.
