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Hamas Agrees To Ceasefire Proposal, Awaiting Israeli Response; Source: CIA Director Involved In Negotiations Over Ceasefire Proposal; Israeli Government Reviewing The Hamas Response To Ceasefire Proposal; State Department Spokesperson Gives Briefing On Ceasefire Proposal. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired May 06, 2024 - 13:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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[13:33:31]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: We are, of course, following all the breaking news out of the Trump hush money trial. Right now, they're on a lunch recess.

We're also following major breaking news out of the Middle East right now. Hamas has agreed to a ceasefire agreement proposed by the governments of Egypt and Qatar. We are now waiting for an official response from the government of Israel.

Some important context here. This development comes after Israel ordered Palestinians in eastern Rafah, southern Gaza to evacuate just ahead of what was being describe as a limited Israeli military operation in Rafah.

A source familiar with this operation tells CNN the intention was exactly what we're seeing now, to put a lot of pressure on Hamas to agree to a new ceasefire deal.

I want to bring in CNN global affairs analyst, Kim Dozier, who's joining us.

Kim, first of all, what do you think we're hearing from -- why do you think we're hearing from Hamas but still awaiting official reaction from the government of Israel?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: You know, immediately Wolf, I'm suspicious. Because in the past, covering other rounds of Israeli- Palestinian peace talks, whenever you hear from one side and you don't hear from both together, you have to wonder if you're being spun.

What has Hamas actually agreed to or has it just agreed to something that Qatar and Egypt proposed that Israel hasn't signed onto yet?

And by doing that, does it help to buy time to delay what seems to be Israel's imminent military operation in Rafah that is aimed in hunting down all the remaining top leaders of Hamas inside Gaza territory.

[13:35:08]

BLITZER: Well, Kim, do you think Israel potentially could push ahead with the military offensive in Rafah very, very soon with a ceasefire proposal on the table?

DOZIER: I think what we have right now is confusion, confusion inside the capitals in D.C., Israel, as everyone tries to figure out what exactly has Hamas agreed to.

And in the meantime, what we've seen in the past is Israel just keeps pushing ahead because, as you said, the pressure seems to be working. Hamas has blinked. It seems to have agreed to something. Now, we just have to figure out what.

But this is the hope for the hostage families that at least 33 hostages might get out in the first tranche. It is also a hopeful sign for the people in Gaza, especially those people in Rafah, injured kids, et cetera, who are living in tents.

It's going to be very hard to move them to the area that the Israeli Defense Forces have specified, which is on the coast near the sea, according to various WHO and other organizations trying to provide aid there. It doesn't have good sanitation or water supplies.

So anything that delays that military operation, from their perspective, is a good thing. Let's just hope this really is legitimate. And a reason to hope for the future.

BLITZER: A source, Kim, familiar with all these negotiations, all these talks underway right now, just told CNN this, and I'm quoting from this source, "The ball is now firmly in Benjamin Netanyahu's court," close quote.

What do you think he is likely to do, the prime minister of Israel?

DOZIER: And again, Israel has to find out exactly what it signed up to. Is it the proposal that Israel put forth to the Qatari and Egyptian negotiators, or have there been changes made to it?

But this is designed -- a move like this is designed to make Netanyahu look like the bad guy, if they take a look at what being proposed, and it has things like perhaps a doubling in the number of Palestinian prisoners that need to be released, according to Hamas, in the first phase.

These kinds kind of small details that end up being huge details.

Because every single one of those Palestinian prisoners released, there's a process that you have to go through on the Israeli judicial side where you give anyone that those prisoners have wronged -- if they're convicted murderers, the families of those murdered have to be able to say I OK this person being released for this cause.

So there are lots of details that have to be fulfilled on the Israelis side within their own government. That's why I think you're seeing this pause to see exactly what Hamas thinks Israel is agreeing to. BLITZER: Our global affairs analyst, Kim Dozier, thank you very much for that update.

We'll have much more on the breaking news on a possible ceasefire deal in the Middle East. And we'll take a quick break.

We're also, of course, keeping a very close eye on the Donald Trump hush money trial, expected to resume in the next hour or so.

Stay with us. Much more of our special coverage right after this.

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[13:42:52]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: We have some breaking news. Hamas says that it has accepted a proposal from Egypt and Qatar.

I want to go now to CNN's Alex Marquardt.

You are learning about the role that the U.S. played in convincing Hamas to accept this agreement, Alex. And, of course, we still do not have a response from Israel. We still -- there are a lot of details to work out.

But what do you know about the U.S. role here?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, those are two very important things, Brianna. We don't have the details of the response and we certainly do not yet have an Israeli response to this.

But without question, the U.S. has been a central player in all of this for the past six or seven months, alongside mediators, Qatar and Egypt.

And Bill Burns, the CIA director, has been the main American official who has been in charge of helping to negotiate this ceasefire in the course of the past few weeks and months to try to get this ceasefire across the line.

It does appear that we are close to that line, but whether it has been crossed, that remains to be seen.

We learned on Friday, Brianna, that Bill Burns had traveled out to the region, specifically to Cairo, where so many of the recent talks had been taking place. A Hamas delegation was also sent to Cairo on Saturday.

And then we learned that Burns had moved on to the Qatari capital, Doha, essentially doing this shuttle diplomacy, engaging with all the other counterparts to try to get this finalized.

Now of course, the U.S. does not deal directly with Hamas because it's a terrorist organization, designated by the United States. But you did have the U.S. head of Central Intelligence in the same places as these Hamas delegations, both in Cairo and in Doha.

So no doubt Burns has been trying to get this deal to a place where it could be accepted by both sides. He's been working feverishly on this for the past few months.

We understand from our colleague, Becky Anderson, that while in Doha yesterday, that the CIA director had a day-long meeting with the Qatari prime minister, who has been his main opposite number, if you will, in these talks.

And then I was told that he actually extended his stay in Doha. He had earlier plans to go to Israel, but -- but stayed in Doha instead.

[13:45:05]

So no doubt Bill Burns has been central in trying to get this deal through. Whether that will actually happen, we really have to wait and see. But as one source told Becky, the ball is in Israel's court -- Brianna?

KEILAR: And, Alex, I should mention we have just learned from an Israeli source they're reviewing at this point what Hamas has agreed to. So they say they are reviewing this and they are working out a response, which obviously is what we are awaiting to see what happens here.

Alex Marquardt, thank you for that reporting on the U.S. role.

Let's go to CNN's Nic Robertson, who is in London.

Nic, I know that you have been speaking to your sources as we learn that Israel is reviewing this, which is not at this point a dismissal. They are looking to see what Hamas has agreed to here.

What are you hearing?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. And I think it's worth, when -- when we try to sort of analyze what's happening here, it's not just that Hamas and Israel have positions on this.

There are things that Qataris want out of the deal. There are things that Egypt wants out of the deal. And obviously, things the United States wants to see come out of the deal as well, as well as other regional players.

So there are many hands that are sort of shaping the way this moves along. And the mediators, like Egypt and Qatar, have quite a significant role to play.

They talk directly to the parties involved, the parties, Israel and Hamas, and Hamas and the United States. They don't talk directly to each other. So they have a role and they have an influence and they have a way that they can help shape events.

So the source that I've been speaking to, tells me that what Ismail Haniyeh, the political head in Doha of Hamas, is agreeing to may not be the entirety of what Israel wants.

But the source is also indicating that there may still be something that could be added onto this, let's say, an amendment or something, that could be added on to this current discussion that could push it over the line.

And if we go back just a few days. over the weekend, we were talking about the potential for a framework agreement. And if that framework was agreed, which did seem to come close and then didn't, that there would still be days-worth of talking to get through the details.

Now is the hitch over part of the framework? Is the hitch over part of the detail? We don't know.

But what I also understand from this source was that, over the weekend, as part of these negotiations, there was pressure on Qatar to provide some guarantees of some unspecified sort to try to help get the deal through from the original Egyptian proposed framework.

So perhaps part of those discussions that we're learning that Bill Burns has had now with the Qatari prime minister, a really influential figure obviously in the negotiations himself, as well as separately with Hamas, the Qataris being the interlocutors there, of course, has potentially built a bridge for that part of the problem.

And maybe we've just -- the ball has just moved a little bit. And now there may be this amendment that is yet to come.

But I have to say this is unclear. And I think the sources that I'm speaking to don't have the complete picture. Again, I come back to that point, that everyone who's trying to --

(CROSSTALK)

KEILAR: All right, Nic, if you could just stand by. I need to cut in, and I'm sorry.

We need to go to the State Department where they are discussing this at the daily briefing.

MATTHEW MILLER, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESPERSON: So I can confirm that Hamas has issued a response. We are reviewing that response now and discussing it with our partners in the region.

As you know, Director Burns is in the region working on this in real time. We will be discussing this response with our partners over the coming hours.

We continue to believe that a hostage deal is in the best interests of the Israeli people. It's in the best interests of the Palestinian people. It would bring an immediate ceasefire. It would allow increased movement of humanitarian assistance.

And so we're going to continue to work to try to reach one.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And so that you haven't made any -- yet made any determination about whether this is -- whether they're -- they're accepting what is on the table or they're accepting something that is different.

MILLER: We have only received the response in the last hour or 90 minutes and, as I said, are going through it now and discussing with it -- discussing it with partners in the region. So I don't want to characterize the nature of that response just yet.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Good. Thanks.

MILLER: Yes, Shannon?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE)

(CROSSTALK)

MILLER: Shannon, go ahead.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Thank you.

There have been some reports that, from Israel, that perhaps Hamas agreed to a proposal that was put together by Egypt and Qatar that was softer than the initial framework that was in the works last week.

Is it possible that there has been a different proposal that the U.S. is not involved with the tracking.

[13:50:03]

MILLER: So I've seen those suggestions, I've seen some of those reports, and I think you'll -- I hope you understand that because we are still reviewing the response that is come in and because we we're working on this in real time and trying to reach an agreement, I'm just going to decline to comment on detail about any of those reports.

We're going to be discussing this response with our partners in the region in the hours ahead. It remains our top priority to try to reach a ceasefire agreement that will lead to the release of hostages, that will allow a surge of humanitarian assistance, both into Gaza and allow it to move around inside Gaza.

But I don't want to comment on any of the various reports about what they might've been responding to until we've been able to go through it in detail and come to a full understanding and discuss it with our partners.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And can you say at this point -- maybe you can't. But Hamas' political wing and their militant wing, are they the same page here? Do you feel like this is a response at also indicates for the entire group is?

MILLER: I'm just not going to -- I'm just not going to speak for Hamas at all. As we have said for some time, there has been a significant offer on the table. The ball has been in Hamas' court.

We have made clear that they should accept that offer, that Israel made significant compromises, showed that they wanted to reach an agreement that would lead to the release of hostages that would bring an immediate ceasefire. And we have hoped that Hamas would take the deal that was on the table.

Now, as to what's in their response, what it looks like, we're going to review that and withhold judgment until we've had a chance to conduct a full review.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: This -- the threatened Israeli offensive in Rafah, in the hours before this, there were lots of reports about evacuations. Report that Israel is talking about evacuations from Rafah.

How does this -- what's the U.S. message of this now? Do you think that Israel should hold off on any operations in Rafah as we discuss this response?

MILLER: Of course, we do. We've made quite clear our position on Rafah for some time, which is that we cannot support an operation in Rafah as it is currently envisioned.

We have made clear -- the secretary made this clear in his conversations with Prime Minister Netanyahu and other members of the Israeli government last week that we have not seen a humanitarian plan that is credible and that is implementable.

And we believe a military operation in Rafah right now would dramatically increase the suffering of the Palestinian people, would lead to an increase in loss of civilian life, would dramatically disrupt the delivery of humanitarian assistance, all of which is coming through.

I'm actually not going to say all but the great majority, which is coming through Karam Shalom or Rafah and is being distributed inside the Rafah area.

If you think about what it would do when you have people moving north to places where internal distribution lines are not currently set up and you're going to have to try to re-establish those in the middle of conflict in Rafah, we think that'd be very difficult, if not impossible to do.

So even absent this latest response, we have made clear that we do not support Israel launching a full-scale military operation in Rafah.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Sure. You just added in terms of the -- that's the standard U.S. position on this. But hasn't been any communication with the Israelis maybe in the past class hours on that the response from Hamas, and how this affects this situation in Rafah? Is there a message?

MILLER: I'm just not going to get into our -- our -- those conversations.

As I said, we just -- just literally in the past hour or 90 minutes received that response from Hamas in the first place. Of course, we will be discussing it with Egypt, with Qatar, with Israel, the three countries with whom we have been working throughout this negotiation process.

But I don't want to get into the timing of those. But obviously, if we have those -- if those conversations have not already started, they will be ongoing in the next several hours.

Amir (ph)?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Under the current circumstances, do you still think a ceasefire is achievable, based on what you know coming here?

MILLER: What -- what do you mean, is a ceasefire achievable?

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Like --

MILLER: A ceasefire is what we are trying to achieve.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Yes. But I mean, if --

MILLER: There -- there --

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: But over the weekend, there was -- there was a quite impasse and, right now, Hamas was accepted it. But from Israel we're hearing that that's not the proposal that we've sent. That's a softer version that throws into -- the whole thing into doubt.

MILLER: Yes. And I think --

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: So I'm just wondering, like, what's your sense here?

MILLER: A ceasefire is absolutely achievable. There has been a deal on the table, a proposal on the table that would achieve an immediate ceasefire and the release of hostages.

Now, as for Hamas' response, which I think gets to your question, again, I don't want to characterize it in any sort of detail until we've had a chance to review it in depth and talk with our partners in the region about it.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: And one thing on the humanitarian aid. Last week, when the secretary was in Israel, there was an increased emphasis on -- during his trip, on the delivery of humanitarian aid.

We visited Karem Shalom, which got shut down over the weekend after the Hamas attack.

But can you give us, like, a sense of what a Rafah offensive, how that would impact all of Gaza? Because there are issues with distribution in the north. If we have a Rafah offensive in the south, could there be any meaningful humanitarian aid delivery in the north?

MILLER: So let me just speak broadly on all of Gaza first and then I'll come to the north.

[13:55:00]

So certainly, a Rafah operation in -- a Rafah operation would make it incredibly difficult to sustain the increases in humanitarian assistance that we have been able to deliver over the past few weeks since the presidents call with Prime Minister Netanyahu on April 4th.

You have seen an increase in the number of trucks going in through Karam Shalom. You have seen an increase in the distribution inside of Gaza, including inside southern Gaza.

All of that would be put in jeopardy by a Rafah offensive. Because obviously, just look at what happened in the past 24 hours when you saw Hamas rocket attacks on Karam Shalom that led to the death of three IDF soldiers and led to the closure of Karam Shalom.

If you had an ongoing kinetic military operation, it doesn't take a genius to figure out the impact that that would have on the delivery of humanitarian assistance, not just through Karam Shalom, not just through Rafah Gate, but --

KEILAR: All right. We're listening to Matt Miller at the State Department amid news that Hamas has agreed to a ceasefire proposal. We are awaiting Israel's response to this. We have learned from Israel that they have the offer they're reviewing it.

What we heard from Miller there was there is a, quote, "significant offer on the table." He described the ball as having been in Hamas' court. He said that Israel has made significant compromises and that was the message that has been taken there in the region.

We know that the CIA Director William Burns has been in the region negotiating in earnest.

As to what's in the response from Israel, Miller was saying that the U.S. is very much reviewing what Hamas has agreed to with Israel and other partners in the region. He's not going to comment on that.

Perhaps we'll get a little more information as we are awaiting a White House press briefing that is scheduled at least to happen here in about 20 minutes, where we've just learned that John Kirby, who is the national security spokesperson at the White House, is going to be joining that.

So just a sense that there is a significant development here, and certainly some hope that perhaps there may be a way to move forward and find agreement to get hostages released and find an agreement on a ceasefire.

All of this, as the IDF has been poised in ordering an evacuation of parts of Rafah.

We're going to continue to follow this. Obviously, a lot going on. We'll be right back. Stay with CNN.

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