Biden Administration Expects Cease-Fire, Hostage Negotiations To Proceed Despite Hamas Decision

The Biden administration says it expects cease-fire and hostage release negotiations to go ahead as planned despite a decision by Hamas not to attend.

The White House says CIA Director Bill Burns and U.S. Middle East envoy Brett McGurk are to represent the U.S. at tomorrow's discussion.

A wounded man ran from the site of an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon Wednesday, the same day U.S. special envoy Amos Hochstein arrived in Beirut to encourage government leaders to tell Hezbollah not to escalate tensions that could lead to an all-out war.

Iran and its proxies have threatened retaliation against Israel for weeks following the recent killings of senior Hamas and Hezbollah leaders.

On Tuesday, Hamas released a video of rockets launched toward Tel Aviv, though Israel's military said they did not reach their targets. Hamas announced it will not send a delegation to Thursday's planned cease-fire and hostage release talks.

A top Hamas official told The Associated Press the group is losing faith in the United States' ability to mediate a deal that would bring an end to the 10-month-old war that has caused massive death and destruction in Gaza.

President Biden vowed Tuesday to press on despite the difficulties. Israel still plans to send a delegation to the negotiations, even as Israel's military chief vowed to keep increasing the pressure on Hamas until the remaining hostages are released.