The negotiations over the release of additional hostages from Gaza that broke down early Friday appear highly unlikely to resume any time soon, multiple senior administration officials told CNN, leaving the fate of multiple Americans believed to have been taken captive by Hamas up in the air.
The White House has said there is one American woman and seven men unaccounted for following Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel. So far, four Americans have been released since the start of the war. All are believed to be dual Israeli-American citizens.
The talks have stalled, and there does not appear to be any real prospects of those discussion starting back up any time soon, according to multiple senior administration officials.
The major reason for the impasse remained unchanged as of Monday, according to one senior administration official: Hamas is refusing to release a remaining group of young women hostages, and Israel will not accept the suggestion of moving on to discuss the next category of hostages: Men.
It also appears unlikely that the administration would be able to negotiate separately for the release of Americans citizens – similar to what the Thai and Russian governments did for hostages from those nations. There is no reason to think that Hamas would do the US any “special favor” in that manner, said a second senior administration official, who all but dismissed that possibility.
With fighting having resumed in the war, it remains unclear what – if anything – could bring back a cessation in hostilities and revive hostage talks.
As CNN has previously reported, Israeli and US officials believe that Hamas is refusing to release a number of women in the 20- to 30-year-old age range, many of them taken from the Nova music festival, claiming that those women are considered soldiers. That refusal, one official said, is “totally unacceptable” given that there have been “credible allegations of sexual violence linked to Hamas and the October 7 atrocities.”
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
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