White House insists it is making progress on Gaza cease-fire as talks continue over the weekend

BUELLTON, Calif. (AP) — The White House said Friday that cease-fire talks in Cairo have been constructive and will continue over the weekend as the U.S. and Mideast allies continue to press Israel and Hamas to forge an agreement.

CIA Director William Burns and Brett McGurk, a senior adviser on the Middle East to President Joe Biden, are leading the U.S. side of negotiations that began on Thursday amid major differences between Israel and Hamas over Israel’s insistence that it maintain forces in two strategic corridors in Gaza.

“There has been progress made,” White House national security spokesman John Kirby said, “We need now for both sides to come together and work towards implementation.”

Kirby did not detail where progress had been made, but he did insist that there’s been momentum in the conversations among the mediators from the U.S., Israel and Hamas’s interlocutors Egypt and Qatar.

Diplomatic efforts have redoubled as fears grow of a wider regional war after the recent targeted killings of leaders of the militant Hamas and Hezbollah groups, both blamed on Israel, and threats of retaliation.

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