Senior White House Official Says U.S. Efforts for Ceasefire in Gaza Have Intensified

A U.S. official announced that President Joe Biden will send advisors and aides to the Middle East in the coming weeks to negotiate a ceasefire agreement in Gaza. John Finer, Deputy National Security Advisor, stated in an interview with Reuters on Tuesday, December 20, that following the ceasefire agreement between Hezbollah and Israel, hopes for a similar agreement in Gaza have increased. He said, "We believe this process has a moment of peak and acceleration. When we and our partners reached a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, this momentum increased, and now a new energy has emerged." However, Mr. Finer did not clarify which U.S. officials would be dispatched to the Middle East or what progress has been made towards achieving a ceasefire in Gaza. Ceasefire negotiations in Gaza between Israel and the extremist group Hamas, which the U.S. and many other Western countries consider terrorist, have been stalled for months. Biden's latest diplomatic efforts to achieve a ceasefire in Gaza come just weeks before the end of his presidency. Donald Trump, the U.S. President-elect, has threatened that if Israeli hostages in Gaza are not released before his administration takes office on January 20, the Middle East will pay a heavy price. On Tuesday, Al Arabiya reported that the extremist group Hamas has handed over a complete list of Israeli hostages to Egypt. Assessments indicate that Hamas still holds about 100 Israeli hostages.