PNN – American and Israeli officials announced the trip of McGurk, the senior advisor to the US President, to Israel and several other countries in the Middle East in the next few days to discuss the Gaza war and try to free Israeli prisoners.
According to Pakistan News Network from Axios, McGurk’s visit is part of the Biden administration’s effort to cooperate with groups that want to prevent a regional war and reach an agreement to return Israeli prisoners and stop the conflict in Gaza.
In the past two weeks, Bill Burns, the head of the CIA, and Tony Blinken, the US Secretary of State, have made similar trips to the region, although those trips did not lead to much success in stopping the war and a ceasefire in Gaza.
According to Axios, McGurk is also expected to stop in Brussels on his way to the Middle East to consult with members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and Washington’s European allies on the Gaza war.
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Two Israeli officials say he will travel to Israel on Tuesday and meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Galant and the heads of Israel’s security services and intelligence community. Visiting Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Qatar and Bahrain will be among McGurk’s other plans.
Israeli officials also announced that the exchange of about 80 women and children who have been captured by Hamas since October 7 with Palestinian women and teenagers in Israeli custody will be one of the ideas discussed during the trip. It is likely that allowing fuel to enter Gaza will also be one of the other provisions of this agreement.
According to Israeli and American officials, the idea is to be explored while an imminent agreement on a prisoner exchange is not yet expected.
It is said that since the beginning of the Al-Aqsa storm attack on October 7, the focus of the Biden administration and the National Security Council of the White House has been mainly on the Gaza war and efforts to free Israeli prisoners, and the US president meets with his national security team every day in this regard.
According to this report, McGurk was chosen for this mission only because of the presence of Biden and Sullivan at the APEC summit, to create direct interaction in the region as well as Europe.