In a press conference on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the U.S. is “working intensely” to finalize a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas before President Joe Biden leaves office on January 20th.
"We very much want to bring this over the finish line in the next two weeks,” Sec. Blinken told reporters. “We will work every minute of every day.”
Sec. Blinken’s comments came after Reuters reported that Hamas has approved a list of 34 hostages they would set free under the first phase of a ceasefire.
The list of captives included the elderly, women, and children. It is unknown how many of them are still alive.
Israel has repeatedly said it will not stop its military operations in Gaza until all of the hostages are set free.
