Israel and Hamas have received the “final” version of a ceasefire agreement in Gaza, an official said Monday, January 13, 2025.
Qatar gave Israel and Hamas a version “finale” of a ceasefire agreement and release of Hamas hostages intended to end the war in the Gaza Strip, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters on Monday.
“The next 24 hours will be crucial”
A breakthrough in these negotiations was made in Doha overnight following discussions between the heads of Israeli intelligence, US President-elect Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy and the Prime Minister of Qatar, it said. responsible.
“The next 24 hours will be crucial to reach an agreement”he added.
Discussions between the different parties continued until the early hours of Monday, with Steve Witkoff pushing the Israeli delegation to Doha and Mohamed bin Abdulrahman al Thani putting pressure on Hamas to finalize an agreement, he detailed.
An Israeli official, however, indicated Monday that Israel had not received a draft proposal for an agreement to end the fighting in Gaza and recover its hostages.
Bezalel Smotrich, the Israeli Minister of Finance and leading figure of the religious far right, for his part denounced the draft agreement on Monday, calling it an agreement of “surrender”.
“The agreement that is taking shape is a catastrophe for the national security of the State of Israel”he said in a press release.
-Qatar is, along with Egypt and the United States, one of the mediating countries in the indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
Telephone interview with Netanyahu
US President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, the White House said. US officials are working to reach an agreement on the hostages and ceasefire in Gaza before Joe Biden, the sitting US president, leaves office on January 20.
Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu discussed ongoing initiatives to reach an agreement on stopping the fighting in the Palestinian enclave and the release of the last hostages there, the White House said in a statement to the resulting from the telephone interview between the two leaders.
Joe Biden “insisted on the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of hostages, with an increase in humanitarian aid made possible by the cessation of fighting under the agreement”writes the White House.
Around a hundred Israeli hostages, alive or dead, are still in the hands of Hamas since the October 7, 2023 attacks by the Palestinian group in southern Israel.
Israel’s response has left more than 46,000 people dead in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of the enclave devastated and in the grip of a humanitarian crisis, while most of its population has been moved.
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