Mediators on Monday gave Israel and Hamas a final version of a deal to end the war in Gaza, an official briefed on the negotiations said, after a midnight “breakthrough” in talks attended by Hamas envoys. US President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald. Asset.
The text of a ceasefire and the release of hostages was presented by Qatar to both sides during the Doha negotiations, attended by the heads of the Israeli spy agencies Mossad and Shin Bet and the Prime Minister of Qatar, the official said.
Steve Witkoff, who will become the US envoy when Trump returns to the US presidency next week, attended the negotiations, according to the official. A US source indicated that the envoy of the outgoing Biden administration, Brett McGurk, was also present.
“The next 24 hours will be crucial to reaching an agreement,” the official said, calling the draft the result of a breakthrough achieved in the early hours of Monday.
Israel’s Kan Radio, citing an Israeli official, reported Monday that the Israeli and Hamas delegations in Qatar had both received a draft and that the Israeli delegation had briefed Israeli leaders. Israel, Hamas and Qatar’s foreign ministry did not respond to requests for confirmation or comment.
Officials from both sides, although not confirming that a final draft had been reached, outlined progress in the talks.
A senior Israeli official said a deal could be reached within days if Hamas responds to a proposal. A Palestinian official close to the negotiations said the information from Doha was “very promising”, adding: “The gaps were closing and there is a big step towards an agreement if everything goes well until end”.
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have been working on negotiations to end the war in Gaza for more than a year.
Trump’s deadline looms
The two sides have largely agreed for months on the principle of stopping the fighting in exchange for the release of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian detainees held by Israel. However, Hamas has always insisted that the agreement must lead to a permanent end to the war and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel has stated that it will not end the war until Hamas would not be dismantled.
Trump’s inauguration on January 20 is now widely seen in the region as a de facto deadline. The president-elect said there would be “hell to pay” unless hostages held by Hamas were released before he took office, while outgoing President Biden also insisted a deal must be reached before his departure.
The official said talks continued into the early hours of Monday, with Witkoff pressuring the Israeli delegation in Doha and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani pushing Hamas officials to finalize a deal.
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.
The head of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, Hassan Mahmoud Rashad, was also present in the Qatari capital as part of the talks, the official said.
Trump envoy Witkoff has visited Qatar and Israel several times since late November. He was in Doha on Friday and traveled to Israel to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday before returning to Doha.
Biden also spoke by telephone with Netanyahu on Sunday, emphasizing “the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of hostages with an increase in humanitarian aid made possible by a cessation of fighting in of the agreement,” the White House said.
5 dead in Israeli strike on school shelter
Bloodshed continued in Gaza on Monday, with Israeli military strikes killing at least 21 people, according to doctors. Among them, five people were killed in an Israeli strike on a Gaza City school housing displaced families.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed its borders in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli counts.
Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of the enclave devastated and most of its population displaced.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a hardline nationalist who has opposed previous attempts to reach a deal, denounced the latest proposals as a “capitulation” and a “catastrophe for the state’s national security of Israel.”
In recent months, fighting has been particularly intense along Gaza’s northern border, where Israel says it is trying to prevent Hamas from regrouping and Palestinians accuse Israel of seeking to permanently depopulate a buffer zone.
Hamas military wing spokesman Abu Ubaida said the group’s fighters attacked Israeli forces in the area, killing at least 10 soldiers and wounding dozens more over the past 72 hours. Israel confirmed on Saturday that four soldiers had been killed.
