Former Biden official says Hamas blocked previous hostage releases, says peace requires Gaza without the terror group

As the Israeli government prepares to enter negotiations over the second phase of the hostage-ceasefire deal, and with apparently contradictory statements coming from Hamas officials, a former Biden administration member spoke out about Hamas' role in previous cease-fire discussions. 

Brett McGurk, who served as deputy assistant to the president and White House coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa, and also led ceasefire negotiations for the Biden White House, blamed the Palestinian terror group for the failure of previous ceasefire negotiations. 

In a Washington Post op-ed, McGurk said the move by Hamas last week, announcing a postponement of the hostage release on Saturday was not a surprise to him. 

McGurk began his article stating, “This week, Hamas once again showed why reaching a ceasefire deal was so elusive for so long.” 

The former Biden official said, “throughout the ceasefire negotiations, Hamas consistently held back on a commitment to release hostages and aimed to ensure it remained in power after the war ends.” 

“These latest threats are part of the same pattern,” McGurk wrote. 

Despite attempts to blame the coalition government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, McGurk said Hamas was to blame for the collapse of the first hostage-ceasefire deal in November 2023. 

According to McGurk, the ceasefire broke down “when Hamas refused to free young women it had agreed to release. Hamas then rejected continuing talks unless Israel accepted a permanent truce up front, with a return to the Oct. 6 status quo.” 

In his op-ed, McGurk claims that “the Biden administration concluded the only way to realistically wind down the war was through firm support for Israel” combined with U.S. efforts to negotiate a hostage-ceasefire deal “on terms not dictated by Hamas.”

McGurk also states that the Biden administration “sought to mitigate the humanitarian consequences of the war.” 

One of the ways Hamas frustrated previous negotiation efforts, McGurk claimed, was by refusing to seriously engage the issue of the hostages. He says the terror group repeatedly refused to provide a list of hostages to be released during negotiations, preferring to focus on Israel Defense Forces (IDF) positions in Gaza. 

The former presidential adviser praised Biden’s support for Israel, and said, “President Donald Trump is right to do the same.” 

Regarding Trump’s ultimatum to Hamas to release the hostages by Saturday or the ceasefire deal could end, McGurk remarked, “Trump was right to call their bluff.” 

McGurk said the only way to end the war is for Gaza to be free of Hamas' rule. 

“The only way to end this war is for Hamas to continue releasing hostages and accept terms for a future that might allow Israelis and Palestinians to live side by side in peace. That means a Gaza without Hamas in charge,” McGurk wrote. 

McGurk’s comments echoed the statements of former U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who told The New York Times in July that Hamas had refused to release hostages in exchange for a ceasefire. 

Prime Minister Netanyahu has repeatedly faced criticism for torpedoing the negotiations, along with other members of the coalition government. Former National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir claimed earlier this year to have blocked previous attempts at a deal by threatening to bring down the government, which he also attempted to do with the current deal. 

Netanyahu responded to McGurk's article on 𝕏, writing in Hebrew, "Contrary to the false leftist claims that the prime minister prevented a deal that was supposed to take place many months ago – the US president's special envoy to the Middle East in the previous administration, Brett McGurk, once again reveals the truth... Hamas is the only one who posed an obstacle to the deal."

On Saturday, Brig. Gen. (res.) Oren Setter, who resigned from the Israeli negotiating team in October, told Channel 12 that the government had missed two windows of opportunity to secure a hostage release, in March and in July of 2024. 

A report published by Channel 12 Monday morning found that the humanitarian aid to Gaza, which the Biden administration insisted Israel provide, benefitted Hamas, and prevented the group’s collapse during fighting in the early part of 2024. 

Recordings made by military intelligence prove that the humanitarian aid that entered the Gaza Strip reached the Hamas leadership, allowing the terror group to continue fighting much longer. 

According to the Channel 12 report, Israel showed the U.S. the recordings in real time, in an attempt to stop the aid, but the Biden administration continued to insist on the entry of 250 humanitarian aid trucks per day.