Progress Made In Talks Over Israel-Hamas Ceasefire And Hostage Release, Officials Say

Officials said the coming days would be critical for ending more than 15 months of fighting that has destabilized the Middle East.

Cairo:U.S. and Arab mediators made significant progress overnight toward brokering a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war and the release of scores of hostages held in the Gaza Strip, but a deal has not been reached yet, officials said Monday. Three officials acknowledged progress has been made and said the coming days would be critical for ending more than 15 months of fighting that has destabilized the Middle East. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the talks.

One of the three officials and a Hamas official said there were still a number of hurdles to clear. On several occasions over the past year, U.S. officials have said they were on the verge of reaching a deal, only to have the talks stall. One person familiar with the talks said there had been a breakthrough overnight and that there was a proposed deal on the table. Israeli and Hamas negotiators will now take it back to their leaders for final approval, the person said.

The person said mediators from the Gulf country of Qatar had put renewed pressure on Hamas to accept the agreement, while President-elect Donald Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, was pressing the Israelis. Witkoff recently joined the negotiations and has been in the region in recent days. The person said the mediators had handed off the draft deal to each side and that the next 24 hours would be pivotal.

An Egyptian official said there had been good progress overnight but that it would likely take a few more days, and that the sides were aiming for a deal before Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration. A third official said the talks were in a good place but had not been wrapped up. That official also assessed that a deal was possible before the inauguration.

A Hamas official, however, said a number of contentious issues still need to be resolved, including an Israeli commitment to ending the war and details about the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the hostage-prisoner exchange. The official was not authorized to brief media and spoke anonymously. The Egyptian official confirmed that those issues were still being discussed.

Months of negotiations have repeatedly stalled

The Biden administration, along with Egypt and Qatar, has spent over a year trying to broker an agreement to end the deadliest war ever fought between Israelis and Palestinians and secure the release of scores of hostages captured in Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack, which triggered the conflict.

But the sides have been divided over the details of the planned exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, as well as the nature of the ceasefire itself. Hamas has said it will not release the remaining captives without an end to the war, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the campaign until “total victory” over the militant group.

Under discussion now is a phased ceasefire. Netanyahu has repeatedly signaled he is committed only to the first phase, a partial hostage release in exchange for a weekslong halt in fighting. The possibility of a lasting ceasefire and other issues would be negotiated after the first phase begins. Hamas has demanded a full withdrawal and complete end to the war, and is hoping this first phase will lead to that outcome.

U.S. President Joe Biden, who hopes to wrap up a deal before leaving office next week, spoke with Netanyahu about the talks on Sunday. The head of Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence agency, David Barnea, and Biden’s top Mideast adviser, Brett McGurk, were both in the Qatari capital, Doha. Barnea’s presence meant high-level Israeli officials who would need to sign off on any agreement are once again involved in the talks.

McGurk has been working on final details of a text to be presented to both sides, Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told CNN’s “State of the Union.” But he said he would not predict whether a deal can be reached by Jan. 20, the day of the inauguration. “We are very, very close,” he said. “Yet being very close still means we’re far because until you actually get across the finish line, we’re not there.”

Palestinians and families of the hostages hope for a deal

Just one brief ceasefire has been achieved in 15 months of war, and that was in the earliest weeks of fighting. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said last week that a deal is “very close” and he hoped to complete it before handing over diplomacy to the incoming Trump administration.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, whose count does not give a breakdown between fighters and civilians. Hamas-led militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted around 250 others in the attack that ignited the war.

Families of the roughly 100 hostages still held in Gaza are pressing Netanyahu to reach a deal to bring their loved ones home. Israelis rallied again Saturday night in the city of Tel Aviv, with photos of hostages on display.

In Gaza, Palestinians were tempering their hopes for a stop to Israel’s campaign, which has devastated much of the territory and driven around 90% of its 2.3 million people from their homes. “We hear that there are negotiations every day, but we see nothing,” said Mazen Hammad, a resident of the southern city of Khan Younis. “When we see it on the ground, then we believe that there is a truce.”