Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “is ready for the ceasefire and hostage deal,” said US national security adviser Jake Sullivan on Thursday during his seventh trip to Israel.
He said, “The talks have reached a stage “where the ceasefire and hostage release could be done.”
Addressing the press conference in Tel Aviv after meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Sullivan rejected the allegations that the Israeli prime minister was stalling to secure the peace deal to evade a pending court of inquiry against him. He said, “No, I do not get that sense.”
He will visit the two mediators, Egypt and Qatar, during his trip to secure a deal between Hamas and Israel.
The sides are “close,” he said, and now it is a matter of “bridging that final distance.” He attributed recent progress to the ceasefire with Hezbollah in Lebanon, the fall of the Syrian regime, and Israel’s “military progress against Hamas’s infrastructure, formation, and senior leadership.”
When asked whether he believed Netanyahu after taking the buffer zone between Syria and Israel Sullivan said, “He takes Netanyahu at his word.”
He said he was visiting Israel to “cash in the opportunity following the fall of the Assad regime in Syria for a better future for the people of Syria.”
Adding that the “US remains vigilant against the continuing threat from Iran, including its nuclear arms program.”
While responding to a query on the transition in the US post-Donald Trump’s election to 47th US President, he said the transition would be smooth as discussions with Mike Waltz have been “constructive and substantive.”
Follow us
