US pushing for Gaza ceasefire progress while engaging in diplomacy between Israel and Lebanon, Kirby says

White House National Security spokesman says not much headway has been made over the past couple of weeks on Gaza negotiations - 'not for lack of trying'

Palestinians walk past the rubble of houses destroyed during the Israeli military offensive in Khan Younis. Reuters

The US is continuing to push for progress on Gaza ceasefire negotiations, despite a recent stall, and is engaging in “extensive and quite assertive diplomacy” to avert the widening of the conflict, the White House National Security spokesman said.

Speaking to ABC on Sunday, John Kirby said that not much progress has been made in ceasefire talks over the past couple of weeks – “not for lack of trying”.

“It doesn't appear like Mr [Yahya] Sinwar is prepared at all to keep negotiating in good faith, especially after he murdered six hostages in a tunnel,” Mr Kirby said, referring to the head of Hamas's political bureau and the deaths of several hostages in Gaza this month. “It doesn't appear as if he's willing to move this, move this forward, but it doesn't mean that we're not trying.”

He pointed to President Joe Biden's remarks on the issue, who said on Friday that “a lot of things don’t look realistic until we get them done”.

As to recent Israeli strikes on Lebanon and a pager attack on members of Iran-backed Hezbollah, which has also been blamed on Israel, Mr Kirby said that the US was not involved and that Washington does not believe escalating the conflict is in anyone's best interest.

“We have been involved in extensive and quite assertive diplomacy,” he said, referring to a visit by US special envoy Amos Hochstein to the region. "We will certainly keep up those conversations as best we can. And we're talking to both sides, here.”

Mr Kirby said there is still “time and space” for a diplomatic solution.

“We don't believe … that kinetic action, military action, by either side is really in either side's best interest, certainly not in the interest of what the Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] says he wants to do, which is get families back to their homes [in northern Israel],” he said. “There's a better way forward here, and we're going to keep trying to proffer that.”