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Source: https://www.thetimes.com/world/middle-east/article/hamas-gaza-peace-deal-brett-mcgurk-8p22qpkx5
Biden's Hamas Hostage Negotiator: After Oct. 7, Israel "Will Never Allow Hamas to Reconstitute....Those Are Legitimate National Security Aims"
(Sunday Times-UK) Josh Glancy - In August 2024, Brett McGurk, point man on the Middle East for President Biden, was working to reach a deal to end the war in Gaza when he received a call from William Burns, director of the CIA. Six Israeli hostages had been found slain in a tunnel under Rafah, all of them shot multiple times. These deaths were not a tragic accident. After the bodies were found, Hamas released propaganda videos showing some of the hostages speaking their final words. The deal was doomed - and McGurk realized that a major shift would now be required for the war to end. The Americans should "walk away until [Yahya] Sinwar is dead," he told Biden. As long as the Oct. 7 mastermind was alive, there would be no agreement. In his new book, Brink: Inside the Race to Free the October 7th Hostages, McGurk brings us the first draft of this history. He ran the Hamas hostage negotiations for Biden. "You're nearly there, then Hamas puts another crazy demand on the table." When the war's first ceasefire and hostage exchange ended on December 1, 2023, it was because Hamas refused to release the young female hostages that were due to come out next. On other occasions, Hamas refused to provide complete lists of which hostages it was willing to release. Today, Sinwar is dead, while Hamas is heavily depleted and no longer in total control of Gaza. But it is not defeated. "So long as they are clinging to power, there is no way forward on a political horizon, or tragically for the people of Gaza," says McGurk. "What you need to appreciate is that, after October 7, Israel will never allow threats to gather on its border again. It will never allow Hamas to reconstitute, never allow Hizbullah to mass 30,000 troops on the border. I wouldn't defend all their actions, but those are legitimate national security aims." There is a growing line of argument for the U.S. to distance itself from Israel. McGurk disagrees. "I believe that to influence Israeli conduct, the better approach is to be working with them, because the threats are there regardless, and they are going to act on them."