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US envoys work for new hostage release deal, scale-down of Mideast war but say no timetable

The head of the CIA jetted to Europe for talks with Israeli and Qatari officials Monday, sounding out the potential for a deal on a new cease-fire and the release of hostages in Gaza, as the U.S. defense secretary spoke to Israeli military leaders about scaling back major combat operations against Hamas.

US envoys work for new hostage release deal, scale-down of Mideast war but say no timetable

Newslooks- TEL AVIV, Israel (AP)

The head of the CIA jetted to Europe for talks with Israeli and Qatari officials Monday, sounding out the potential for a deal on a new cease-fire and the release of hostages in Gaza, as the U.S. defense secretary spoke to Israeli military leaders about scaling back major combat operations against Hamas.

Still, there was no sign that a shift in the war was imminent after more than two months of devastating bombardment and fighting. Fierce battles raged in northern Gaza, where residents said rescue workers were searching for the dead and the living under buildings flattened by Israeli strikes.

FILE – Central Intelligence Agency Director William Burns speaks during an event at the Georgia Institute of Technology, April 14, 2022, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson, File)

Pressure is growing, as France, the U.K. and Germany — some of Israel’s closest allies — joined global calls for a cease-fire over the weekend. Israeli protesters have demanded the government relaunch talks with Hamas on releasing more hostages after three were mistakenly killed by Israeli troops while waving a white flag.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, center left, talks with Israeli Col. Olivier Rafowicz as she arrives at the Shura military base, central Israel Sunday Dec. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

U.S. officials have repeatedly expressed concern about the large number of civilian deaths in Gaza. But after talks with Israeli officials Monday, U.S. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin said, “This is Israel’s operation. I’m not here to dictate timelines or terms.” The U.S. has vetoed calls for a cease-fire at the U.N. and has rushed munitions to Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center, attends the weekly cabinet meeting at the Prime Minister’s office in Jerusalem, Sunday, Dec. 10, 2023. (Ronen Zvulun/Pool Photo via AP)

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has insisted that Israel will keep fighting until it ends Hamas rule in Gaza, crushes its formidable military capabilities and frees hostages still held in Gaza since the deadly Oct. 7 attack inside Israel that ignited the war. In the unprecedented attack, militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 240 men, women and children.

Friends and relatives attend the funeral of Palestinians killed during an Israeli military raid on the Fara’a refugee camp in the West Bank on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

The 10-week-old war has killed more than 19,000 Palestinians and demolished much of the north into a moonscape. Some 1.9 million Palestinians — nearly 85% of Gaza’s population — have fled their homes, with most packing into U.N.-run shelters and tent camps in the southern part of the besieged territory.

HOSTAGE TALKS

In an apparent sign that talks on a hostage deal were growing more serious, CIA Director William Burns met in Warsaw with the head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency and the prime minister of Qatar, a U.S. official said.

FILE – In this April 14, 2021 file photo, CIA Director William Burns testifies during a Senate Select Committee on Intelligence hearing about worldwide threats, on Capitol Hill in Washington. A U.S. official says that CIA Director William Burns visited Kabul on Monday to meet with the Taliban’s top political leader. The official told The Associated Press the meeting between Burns and Abdul Ghani Baradar came amid the ongoing evacuations at the Kabul airport. (Saul Loeb/Pool via AP)

It was the first known meeting of the three since the end of a weeklong cease-fire in late November, during which some 100 hostages — including a number of foreign nationals — were freed in exchange for the release of around 240 Palestinian s held in Israeli prisons.

Families and supporters of Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza hold their photos and shout slogans at a rally calling for their return, in Tel Aviv, Israel, Saturday, Dec. 16, 2023. More than 100 Israeli hostages are held in Gaza after being abducted in a Hamas cross-border attack on Oct. 7. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said the talks were not “at a point where another deal is imminent. We are working literally every day on this.”

National Security Council spokesman John Kirby speaks Tuesday, Oct. 24, 2023, during a briefing at the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

Aiming to increase public pressure on the Israeli government, Hamas released a video showing three elderly Israeli hostages, sitting in white T-shirts and pleading for Israel to bring their immediate release.

The comments were likely made under duress, but the video signaled Hamas wants to move on to discussions of releasing sick and elderly men in captivity. Israel has said it wants around 19 women and two children freed first. Hamas says the women include soldiers, for whom it is expected to demand a higher price in terms of prisoner releases.

Palestinians wounded in Israeli airstrikes on a U.N.-run school arrive at the Nasser hospital in the town of Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip. Sunday, Dec. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman)

Hamas and other militants are still holding an estimated 129 captives. Hamas has said no more hostages will be released until the war ends.

SCALING DOWN THE WAR

Austin, who arrived in Israel with Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. CQ Brown, said he and Israeli officials exchanged “thoughts on how to transition from high intensity operations” and how to increase the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

American officials have called for targeted operations aimed at killing Hamas leaders, destroying tunnels and rescuing hostages. Those calls came after U.S. President Joe Biden warned last week that Israel is losing international support because of its “indiscriminate bombing.”

Speaking alongside Austin, Gallant said only that “the war will take time.” Last week, Gallant said Israel would continue major combat operations for several more months.

Palestinians look at the destruction of the Al-Gatshan family building after an Israeli strike in Nusseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said the Israeli chief of staff met with Austin and Brown and presented “plans for the continuation of the battle in the coming stages.”

European countries also appear to be losing patience. “Far too many civilians have been killed in Gaza,” EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell posted on X. “Certainly, we are witnessing an appalling lack of distinction in Israel’s military operation in Gaza.”

Humanitarian aid trucks enter through the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel into the Gaza Strip on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)

Under U.S. pressure, Israel provided more precise evacuation instructions earlier this month as troops moved into the southern city of Khan Younis. Still, casualties have continued to mount and Palestinians say nowhere in Gaza is safe as Israel carries out strikes in all parts of the territory.

A Palestinian girl wounded in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip receives treatment at a hospital in Khan Younis on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Mohammed Dahman)

Israel reopened its main cargo crossing with Gaza to allow more aid in — also after a request from the U.S. But the amount is less than half of prewar imports, even as needs have soared and fighting hinders delivery in many areas. Israel blocked entry off all goods into Gaza soon after the war started and weeks later began allowing a small amount of aid in through Egypt.

Humanitarian aid trucks enter through the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel into the Gaza Strip on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Hatem Ali)

Human Rights Watch on Monday accused Israel of deliberately starving Gaza’s population — which would be a war crime — pointing to statements by senior Israeli officials expressing the intent to deprive civilians of food, water and fuel or linking the entry of aid to the release of hostages.

UNPRECEDENTED DEATH AND DESTRUCTION

At least 110 people were killed in Israeli strikes Sunday on residential buildings in the urban Jabaliya refugee camp in northern Gaza, Munir al-Boursh, a senior Health Ministry official, told Al Jazeera television.

Fierce fighting continued Monday in Jabaliya and the Gaza City districts of Zaytoun and Shijaiyah, where tens of thousands of Palestinians remain trapped, crowded in homes or schools.

Palestinians salvage belongings from the destroyed Al-Gatshan family building after an Israeli strike in Nusseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

In Jabaliya, first responders and residents searched the rubble of many collapsed buildings. “They use their hands and shovels,” said Amal Radwan, who is staying at a U.N. shelter there. “We need bulldozers and above all the bombing to stop.”

More than 19,400 Palestinians have been killed, according to the Health Ministry, which has said that most are women and minors and that thousands more are buried under rubble. The ministry does not differentiate between civilian and combatant deaths.

Palestinians look at the destruction of the Al-Gatshan family building after an Israeli strike in Nusseirat refugee camp, central Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

Israel’s military says 127 of its soldiers have been killed in the Gaza ground offensive. It says it has killed thousands of militants, without providing evidence.

Israel blames civilian deaths on Hamas, saying it uses them as human shields. But the military rarely comments on individual strikes.

REGIONAL TENSIONS

Yemen’s Houthi rebels continued attacks on shipping in the Red Sea in a campaign that has prompted a growing list of companies to halt their operations in the major trade route. The latest company was oil and natural gas giant BP, which said Monday it was suspending shipments through the Red Sea.

Israeli attack helicopter fires a missile into the Gaza Strip, Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Leo Correa)

Austin said he would hold talks Tuesday morning with his counterparts in the Middle East and beyond on an international coalition to respond to the attacks. “It is an international problem. That’s why it deserves an international response,” he said.

Smoke rises from the Fara’a refugee camp in the West Bank during an Israeli military raid on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. (AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed)

Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah have traded fire along the border nearly every day since the war began. In the Israeli-occupied West Bank, over 300 Palestinians have been killed since the start of the war, including four overnight during an Israeli military raid in the Faraa refugee camp, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

This has been the deadliest year for Palestinians in the West Bank since 2005. Most have been killed during military raids, which often ignite gunbattles, or during violent demonstrations.

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