![Biden administration pushing Middle East allies to make threats to Hamas in push for a Gaza ceasefire deal](https://media.cnn.com/api/v1/images/stellar/prod/c-gettyimages-2154783056.jpg?c=16x9&q=w_800,c_fill)
Biden administration pushing Middle East allies to make threats to Hamas in push for a Gaza ceasefire deal
CNN
The Biden administration has spent the last week pushing allies in the Middle East to make specific threats to Hamas, as part of an urgent campaign to push the group towards accepting the latest Israeli ceasefire and hostage proposal that would pause the fighting in Gaza.
The Biden administration has spent the last week pushing allies in the Middle East to make specific threats to Hamas, as part of an urgent campaign to push the group toward accepting the latest Israeli ceasefire and hostage proposal that would pause the fighting in Gaza. US officials have publicly called on the group to accept previous ceasefire proposals on the table as Israel and Hamas have engaged in months of back-and-forth negotiations, but there has never been an all-out pressure campaign marked by specific asks to individual countries as part of the Biden administration’s push. Secretary of State Antony Blinken has held almost a dozen calls with key players in the region since Friday and other top State Department officials have been intimately involved in the all-hands on deck effort. White House Middle East Coordinator Brett McGurk traveled to Egypt this week and CIA Director Bill Burns went to Qatar in the hopes of adding traction to the negotiations, but US officials have remained largely mum on the trips so far, citing the sensitivity of the ongoing diplomatic work. An initial response from Hamas on Wednesday to the most recent Israeli proposal, as publicly described by President Joe Biden last week, appeared to signal that the gaps may still be significant. While it welcomed what Biden laid out, upon seeing the proposal brought by mediators, Hamas said that it “turned out to be devoid of the positive foundations contained in Biden’s statements.” “It does not guarantee a permanent ceasefire, but rather a temporary one” and allows for Israeli forces to remain in Gaza territory, the group said in a statement obtained by CNN.
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Texas executed Ramiro Gonzales by lethal injection on Wednesday for a 2001 murder, the state Department of Criminal Justice said, following unsuccessful appeals to the US Supreme Court that argued, in part, he should have been ineligible for the death penalty under state law because he is no longer dangerous.
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