DOHA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Parties negotiating a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip met in Qatar on Tuesday in hopes of finalizing details of a deal deemed imminent by U.S. President Joe Biden , on a cessation of hostilities and the release of hostages.
Mediators handed Israel and Hamas a final draft of the agreement on Monday, an official familiar with the negotiations said, after “progress” in talks overnight, attended by envoys from Joe Biden and President- American elected official Donald Trump participated.
The source added that the text relating to the ceasefire was presented by Qatar to both parties in Doha.
Another Palestinian source close to the negotiations told Reuters the deal could be finalized on Tuesday if “everything goes well.”
Hamas said the talks were entering their final phase and that it hoped this round of negotiations would lead to an agreement.
Some Israeli hostages could thus be released, in exchange for the release of Palestinian detainees.
Steve Witkoff, Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, and Brett McGurk, Joe Biden’s, both participated in the talks hosted by Qatar Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abderrahmane Al Thani.
Israel is represented by David Barnea, director of Mossad, Israel’s foreign intelligence service, and Ronen Bar, director of the internal security agency Shin Bet.
“The agreement… would free the hostages, stop the fighting, ensure Israel’s security and significantly increase humanitarian aid to the Palestinians who have suffered terribly from the war started by Hamas “, Joe Biden said on Monday, less than a week before his departure from the White House.
If successful, this gradual ceasefire would cap off a year of negotiations and could put an end to the fighting that has left Gaza in ruins, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, made most of Gaza’s population homeless and continue to claim dozens of victims every day.
The agreement could also ease tensions in the Near and Middle East where the war has fueled conflicts in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, also raising fears of a conflagration between Israel and Iran.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken stressed that the ball was in Hamas’s court.
He is due to present a post-war plan for Gaza on Tuesday, according to Axios.
“Negotiations on some key issues have progressed and we are working to conclude what remains to be done,” a Hamas official said.
An Israeli official said the first stage of the deal would include the release of 33 hostages – children and women, as well as some female soldiers, men over 50, and the wounded and sick.
Israel would also gradually and partially withdraw some of its forces from the Gaza Strip.
A Palestinian source said Israel would release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners during the first phase of the ceasefire, which would last 60 days.
FIGHTS STILL RAGE
Israel carried out its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters crossed its borders on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Since then, Israeli forces have killed more than 46,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Palestinian authorities.
Only one ceasefire has occurred so far, lasting a week in November 2023, during which around half of the hostages, including most women, children and foreign workers, had been released in exchange for Palestinian detainees.
For months, the two parties have been committed to the principle of a ceasefire accompanied by an exchange of the remaining hostages for detainees.
All subsequent talks failed, however, with Hamas rejecting any agreement that did not bring a definitive end to the war, while Israel was unwilling to end the conflict until Hamas was dismantled.
The fighting has raged, concentrating in recent months in the north of the territory, where Israel says its forces are trying to prevent Hamas from regrouping and where the Palestinians say IDF forces are trying to permanently depopulate a buffer zone.
Israeli nighttime strikes also continued in the enclave.
Gaza health authorities said Tuesday that bombings had killed at least 27 Palestinians over the past day, including a Gazan journalist.
One of these attacks killed 10 people in Khan Younes, in the south of the enclave.
Another killed nine people in a tent encampment in Deir el-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip.
The Israeli army had no immediate comment.
Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20 is now widely seen as a de facto deadline for reaching a ceasefire agreement.
The president-elect warned of “hell to pay” if hostages held by Hamas were not released before he takes office.
(Reporting Andrew Mills in Doha, Nidal Al Mughrabi in Cairo and Maayan Lubell in Jerusalem; written by Michael Georgy; French version Etienne Breban; edited by Sophie Louet)
By Andrew Mills, Nidal al-Mughrabi et Maayan Lubell
