White House says gaps remain between Israel and Hamas on ceasefire deal

WASHINGTON: Senior US officials are in Cairo for talks to achieve a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, but gaps still remain between the two sides, White House national security spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Monday (July 8).

”I would just tell you that there has been some back and forth. As you know, we have a team in Cairo right now that includes Brett McGurk and the director of the CIA. They’re meeting with their Egyptian, Israeli and Jordanian counterparts and there’ll be follow on discussions after that over the next few days,” Kirby said.

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Kirby said CIA Director Bill Burns and US Middle East envoy Brett McGurk were in Egypt, meeting with their Egyptian, Israeli and Jordanian counterparts, adding that there will be “follow-on discussions” in the next few days.

“”The president believes wholeheartedly that this ceasefire proposal that we are trying to get done will make a big difference in terms of not only temporarily ceasing hostilities, but potentially giving us an opening to end this conflict,” he said.