MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
Biden administration officials are scrambling to get a peace plan across the finish line to end a devastating war in Gaza. Health Ministry officials in Gaza now say that more than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in that war, a war that started after Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. Back in May, President Biden outlined a step-by-step plan to end the war. Now his administration is counting on talks in Doha to put this plan into action. NPR's Michele Kelemen has been following the diplomacy, as always. Hey, Michele.
MICHELE KELEMEN, BYLINE: Hi there, Mary Louise.
KELLY: What makes the administration think that it can get this deal done now?
KELEMEN: Well, they don't see any other way out, really. I mean, White House spokesman John Kirby says that Israel and Hamas have agreed on the framework of a deal that would start with a six-week cease-fire and include the release of some of the hostages Hamas has held since October 7 in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. Then the goal is to negotiate a permanent end of the war. But there are a lot of details about how to get started implementing this package. Take a listen to what Kirby had to say about the talks getting underway in Doha.
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JOHN KIRBY: This is vital work. The remaining obstacles can be overcome. And we must bring this process to a close. We need to see the hostages released, relief for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, security for Israel and lower tensions in the region.
KELEMEN: He called today a promising start and said he expects the talks to continue Friday and perhaps longer.
KELLY: Yeah. And there's a complicating twist - well, a few. But one of them is that Hamas' political leader was assassinated in Iran just a couple weeks ago. Hamas has said it's not even going to attend these talks in Doha. So how is this going to work?
KELEMEN: Well, Kirby says it's pretty much the same way that the talks have happened in the past. So Israeli officials are in the room with CIA director William Burns and a White House official, Brett McGurk. Egypt and Qatar are also there. And they act as the go-betweens between Hamas, which has an office in Doha, and then they send messages back to Yahya Sinwar in Gaza.
But as you mentioned, the Hamas leader that's based in Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, was killed. There's been a lot of fears over the past couple of weeks that Iran might attack Israel in response to that assassination. But so far, Iran has been kind of keeping everyone guessing and might be, like all of us, waiting to see if a cease-fire can be reached in Gaza.
KELLY: Yeah. Speak to how important this is for President Biden just politically.
KELEMEN: Yeah. I mean, it's important for his legacy. He's faced a lot of criticism from progressives in his own party for his - let's call it, like, a bear hug approach to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and for continued U.S. military aid even as the civilian toll mounted in Gaza. It's also a legacy issue for Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who's put in a lot of miles traveling repeatedly to Israel and the region since last October. His role has been to get everyone to agree on plans to rebuild Gaza and also to prevent this, you know, war from spiraling into a regional conflict. A cease-fire in Gaza is just a start, but it would be a big win, especially if the administration can get it before Democrats have their convention next week.
KELLY: And meanwhile - just real quick - there are politics at play in Israel, too.
KELEMEN: Yeah. I mean, Netanyahu's government could collapse over a deal. Extremists in his government certainly could be spoilers. And it's not clear what sort of deal Sinwar is ready to accept in Gaza.
KELLY: NPR diplomatic correspondent Michele Kelemen. Thanks.
KELEMEN: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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