Biden speaks to Egypt and Qatari leaders to press for cease-fire

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden spoke Monday with the leaders of Egypt and Qatar as he sought to increase pressure on Hamas to accept a deal that would result in a temporary cease-fire in the war in the Gaza Strip and the release of some of the hostages held there.

According to a statement from the office of President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt, he and Biden discussed the negotiations and Egypt’s efforts to broker a cease-fire. They also reiterated their support for a two-state solution, discussed the importance of containing the conflict to the region and emphasized their opposition to a military escalation in the Palestinian city of Rafah, which Israel seems poised to invade.

Biden also spoke Monday with Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, the emir of Qatar. According to the White House, Biden urged the Qatari leader “to exert all efforts to secure the release of hostages held by Hamas,” saying that “this is now the only obstacle” to an immediate cease-fire.

Al-Sissi and Al Thani have been prime intermediaries with Hamas through months of fitful negotiations to reach a deal to halt the hostilities, and Biden hopes they will prod the group’s leader, Yehia Sinwar, to accept the U.S.-brokered proposal on the table. On Sunday, Biden spoke with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel.

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre expressed a hopeful view of the prospects for an agreement. “In recent days, there has been progress in talks,” she told reporters at the White House.

Like other U.S. officials, Jean-Pierre said Hamas, not Israel, was the obstacle to an agreement.

“The onus is indeed on Hamas,” she said. “There is a deal on the table, and they need to take it.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.