Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden on Sunday discussed efforts to reach a ceasefire agreement and the release of hostages in the war between Israel and Hamas, a sign of an intensification of efforts to reach an agreement before the upcoming inauguration of Donald Trump.
Talks brokered over the past year by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have repeatedly stalled despite appearing close to an agreement. In recent days, U.S. officials have expressed hope of reaching an agreement.
Sunday’s call between Biden and Netanyahu took place while the head of Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence agency, David Barnea, and Biden’s top Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, were both in Doha , the Qatari capital. Barnea’s presence, confirmed by Netanyahu’s office, means that senior Israeli officials who would have to sign any agreement are now involved in the negotiations.
McGurk is working on the final details of a text that will be presented to both sides, Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told CNN. State of the Union. But he added that he could not predict whether a deal could be reached by Jan. 20, Inauguration Day.
“We are very, very close,” he said. “Yet being very close means we are far away, because until you cross the finish line, we are not there.”
Both the White House and Netanyahu’s office confirmed the phone call between the two leaders without providing details.
Only one brief ceasefire has been concluded in 15 months of war, from the first weeks of the fighting. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week that a deal was “very close” and that he hoped to conclude it before turning over diplomacy to the new Trump administration.
There is currently talk of a gradual ceasefire, with Netanyahu signaling he is only committing to the first phase, a partial release of the hostages in exchange for a cessation of fighting for several weeks.
Hamas insisted on the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the largely devastated territory, but Netanyahu insisted on the destruction of Hamas’ ability to fight in Gaza.
Talks aimed at brokering a ceasefire and hostage release agreement between Israel and Hamas have resumed in Cairo, and sources close to the negotiations say an agreement could be signed in the coming days. Palestinians in southern Gaza hope that this round of negotiations will end the war and allow life to resume.
Issues raised during the talks included which hostages would be released in the first part of a gradual ceasefire agreement, which imprisoned Palestinians would be freed and the extent of any withdrawal of Israeli troops from the population centers of Gaza.
The Israeli campaign in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, according to the territory’s Ministry of Health, whose count does not give a breakdown between combatants and civilians.
The Israeli campaign was sparked by the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, in which militants killed some 1,200 people and kidnapped about 250 others, according to Israeli counts.
The families of the hundreds of hostages still held in Gaza are pressuring Netanyahu to reach a deal to bring their loved ones home. Israelis rallied again Saturday evening in the city of Tel Aviv, with photos of hostages on display.
In Gaza, Palestinians are tempering their hopes for an end to the Israeli campaign, which has devastated much of the territory and driven more than 80 percent of its 2.3 million residents from their homes.
“We hear that there are negotiations every day, but we see nothing,” said Mazen Hammad, a resident of the southern town of Khan Younis. “When we see him on the field, then we believe there is a truce.”
