Reporters Grill State Department Official On The Death Of Haniyeh And Its Impact On Ceasefire Talks

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At a State Department press briefing on Wednesday, Principal Deputy Spokesperson Vedant Patel was asked about Israel negotiating with Hamas for a cease-fire.

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00:00I mean, you mentioned that Israel, in your eyes, has shown a willingness or that it is

00:06a priority to get a deal done.

00:08But I mean, certainly eliminating the person that you're trying to get a deal done with

00:13suggests that it's not a priority.

00:16So look, Willie, I don't have an assessment to offer as it relates to attribution, and

00:19I'm certainly not going to speak for the Israelis or any other government or entity

00:23as it relates to this.

00:25What I can say is that the United States is squarely focused on – is getting a deal

00:30done.

00:31It is the message that the Secretary is carrying and the conversations that he's having with

00:35world leaders and counterparts, some of which that we just talked about.

00:38And that's what we are focused on.

00:40We continue to believe a deal is achievable and urgent, and we're going to have our

00:44team continue to work tirelessly to close those gaps.

00:47Okay.

00:48And then just shifting – in the wake of the Haniyeh killing, is there any posturing

00:54or concern of embassies in the region or elsewhere right now, security-wise?

00:59So look, take this situation – put the situation aside for a second, Willie.

01:04We take the safety of all our personnel, not just State Department personnel, but any personnel,

01:10American personnel, incredibly seriously.

01:12We take the safety of our embassies and our facilities and our installations incredibly

01:17seriously.

01:18And constantly, around the clock, we are always assessing circumstances on the ground.

01:22We are assessing what risk levels are, what threat levels are, and appropriately, we will

01:29make adjustments on those as we need to.

01:32We certainly aren't going to read out that operational process from here.

01:35That would kind of be counterproductive.

01:37But what I can say is that this is not just tantamount of importance to the Secretary

01:40of State.

01:41This is also of importance to not just the President, but the Secretary of Defense and

01:45other executives across this interagency who may or may not have personnel abroad.

01:51So this is something that we are paying very close attention to.

01:54Yeah.

01:55Go ahead, Daphne.

01:56You said that you've seen Israel engage in constructive conversations about a ceasefire

02:00deal.

02:01Is it still your assessment today that they're engaging constructively?

02:03That is still our assessment.

02:04I'm not going to speak to specific negotiation processes, but that continues to be our assessment.

02:10Go ahead.

02:11So saying nothing about the eventual outcome of the talks or progress towards a ceasefire

02:16hostage release deal, can you say if, given the response from key mediators, from Hamas,

02:22will the assassination lead to at least a pause in the talks?

02:26So that is not our understanding at the moment, and – but beyond that, I'm not going to

02:32speculate on the impacts here, to say for also probably the 15th time.

02:38Our focus is on working to close this gap, the gaps that exist, and continuing to work

02:45to get this deal done.

02:47When we say that this is of vital importance to the region, that is not hyperbole.

02:53We legitimately think that to be true, not just in the context of Israel and Gaza, but

02:58also when we are talking about destability across the region, we think that a ceasefire

03:03deal has the potential to be beneficial in addressing that situation writ large as well.

03:10Has there been any direct or indirect conversations between the U.S. and Iran following the assassination?

03:16I'm not aware of any diplomatic conversations.

03:18Go ahead, Alex.

03:19Before I come to you, does anybody else have any – go ahead, Roby.

03:24I know, Alec, I'm sure you have a wide geography to cover, so I just want to close out this

03:31region of the world before we come to you.

03:33Yeah.

03:34Follow-up on the assassination of Haniyeh and its implication on the Gaza ceasefire

03:37talks.

03:38Actually, one of the mediators, Qatar's foreign minister, Antony, today said – I

03:45mean, asked a question, which is that how can mediation succeed when one party assassinates

03:52the negotiator, on the other side, what is your response to this?

03:57So look, again, I'm not a spokesperson for the Qatari foreign ministry.

04:01I will let the prime minister and minister of foreign affairs speak to his own comments.

04:08What I can say is that the Secretary and the prime minister had a constructive call earlier

04:14today where the Secretary reiterated, again, the need for getting a ceasefire – for getting

04:20a ceasefire done.

04:21The Secretary reiterated the United States commitment to continuing to work to close

04:26these gaps and to get a deal across the finish line for all the reasons that I talked about.

Reporters Grill State Department Official On The Death Of Haniyeh And Its Impact On Ceasefire Talks

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