(Bloomberg) -- A senior Biden administration official called on Israel to redouble negotiations on a Gaza cease-fire, saying the risk of a wider regional conflict increases the urgency of reaching a deal with Hamas.
US Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer’s appeal for both sides to “get back to the table” follows the killings of senior militants in Beirut and Tehran last week, Iran’s threat of retaliation against Israel and an intensified Israeli alert against possible reprisals by Iran-backed Hezbollah from Lebanon.
“We are in a moment that appears to be of heightened threat,” Finer said in an interview with CBS’s Face the Nation.
Finer declined to speculate on Iran’s possible response, telling CNN’s State of the Union that the US and Israel are “preparing for every possibility” while seeking to avoid a wider war.
An Israeli delegation led by the country’s intelligence chief visited Egypt on Saturday seeking to make progress in the long-stalled talks, but returned with no immediate sign of a breakthrough.
The proposed arrangement, which is backed by the US, could help reduce the scale of reprisals that Hamas, its ally Hezbollah and their sponsor Iran have threatened for the killing this week of senior militants in Beirut and Tehran.
“We still believe the gaps are narrow enough to close,” John Kirby, spokesman for the White House’s National Security Council, said on Fox News Sunday.
President Joe Biden conveyed the message to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “this deal needs to get done” when the Israeli leader visited Washington in July, Finer said.
“In this context, when there’s so much going on in the region, and the risk level and the threat level is so high, there are always these external events that can make these negotiations themselves much more difficult,” Finer told CBS.
“But, you know, this is the work of diplomacy,” he said. “It’s not about frustration.”
The Pentagon announced Friday it’s bolstering its presence in the Middle East with ships, fighter planes and ballistic missile defense vessels as Israel faces threats from Iran to avenge the assassinations of the Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.
The moves, which Finer said are designed to “defend Israel against any threat it may face,” include dispatching the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group to replace the USS Theodore Roosevelt, which is now in the Gulf of Oman.
US Central Command commander General Michael Kurilla arrived in the Middle East on Saturday as Israel prepares itself for a possible attack by Iran, Axios reported.
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