Mediators working to secure a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas made breakthroughs toward a deal overnight, officials familiar with the talks said Monday.
Months of negotiations led by the United States, Egypt and Qatar had failed to bring a halt to the fighting, but in recent weeks the effort gained momentum at a time when the U.S. is preparing to go through a change in its leadership.
People familiar with the talks said a draft agreement was in the hands of Israel and Hamas for consideration by their leaders.
A general framework for a deal is believed to include a ceasefire, the release of hostages still being held by Hamas, the release of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel and a surge in humanitarian aid for Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip.
U.S. President Joe Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told CNN’s “State of the Union” show on Sunday that the parties were “very, very close” to reaching a deal to halt more than 15 months of fighting in Gaza and free the remaining 98 hostages held there, with two-thirds of them believed to be alive.
“We are still determined to use every day we have in office to get this done,” Sullivan said. “We are not, by any stretch of imagination, setting this aside.”
Biden spoke Sunday with Netanyahu about the ongoing negotiations.
The White House released a statement later Sunday saying the two leaders discussed a ceasefire and hostage release deal based on a framework endorsed unanimously by the U.N. Security Council last year.
Biden discussed the “changed regional circumstances following the ceasefire deal in Lebanon, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, and the weakening of Iran’s power in the region,” the statement said. It stressed the “immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and return of the hostages with a surge in humanitarian aid enabled by a stoppage in the fighting under the deal.”
The statement said Netanyahu thanked Biden “for his lifelong support of Israel and for the extraordinary support from the United States for Israel’s security and national defense.”
Sullivan said there was still a chance to reach an agreement before Biden leaves office on January 20, but not a certainty, saying that “Hamas, in particular, remains intransigent.”
Israel launched its assault on Hamas in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across its borders on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 46,500 people have been killed in Gaza, with most of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials, although Israel says the death toll includes thousands of Hamas combatants it has killed.
Much of Gaza, a narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea, has been laid to waste during the fighting and gripped by a humanitarian crisis, with most of its 2.3 million population displaced, often multiple times.
Netanyahu’s office said Saturday that the Israeli delegation to the Doha talks includes the director of the Mossad intelligence agency, David Barnea; the head of the Shin Bet domestic security service, Ronen Bar; and the military’s head of hostage concerns, Nitzan Alon.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, met Saturday with Netanyahu, after having met with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani on Friday.
It is not clear how Israel and Hamas will bridge one of the biggest gaps that has persisted throughout previous rounds of talks: Hamas demands an end to the war while Israel says it will not end the war as long as Hamas rules Gaza and poses a threat to Israelis.
White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report. Some material came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
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