By Andrew Mills and Nidal al-Mughrabi
DOHA/CAIRO (Reuters) – Negotiators will meet in Doha on Tuesday seeking to finalise details of a plan to end the war in Gaza, after U.S. President Joe Biden said a ceasefire and hostage release deal he has championed was on “the brink” of coming to fruition.
Mediators gave Israel and Hamas a final draft of a deal on Monday, an official briefed on the negotiations said, after a midnight “breakthrough” in talks attended by envoys of both the outgoing U.S. president and President-elect Donald Trump.
If successful, the ceasefire deal would cap over a year of start-and-stop talks and lead to the biggest release of Israeli hostages since the early days of the conflict, when Hamas freed about half of its prisoners in exchange for 240 Palestinian detainees held by Israel.
The official briefed on the talks, who did not want to be otherwise identified, said the text for a ceasefire and release of hostages was presented by Qatar to both sides at talks in Doha, which included the chiefs of Israel’s Mossad and Shin Bet spy agencies and Qatar’s prime minister.
Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Biden’s envoy Brett McGurk are expected to again attend Tuesday’s talks in Doha, with Hamas negotiators nearby for quick consultations in an effort to reach a swift deal.
Officials on both sides and the United States have reported progress. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the sides were “closer than we’ve ever been” to a deal, and the ball was in Hamas’ court. Hamas said it was keen on reaching a deal.
“The deal … would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started,” Biden said in a speech on Monday to highlight his foreign policy achievements.
An Israeli official said negotiations were in advanced stages for the release of up to 33 hostages as part of the deal. Ninety-eight hostages remain in Gaza, according to Israeli authorities.
The Hamas delegation in Doha issued a statement on Monday after a meeting with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani saying talks were progressing well.
Israel launched its assault in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across its borders in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of the enclave laid to waste and most of its population displaced.
The warring sides have broadly agreed for months on the principle of halting the fighting in return for the release of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian detainees held by Israel. But Hamas has always insisted a deal must lead to a permanent end to the war and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel has said it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled.
TRUMP’S INAUGURATION SEEN AS DEADLINE
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have worked for more than a year on talks to end the war.
Trump’s Jan. 20 inauguration is now widely seen as a de facto deadline. Trump has said there would be “hell to pay” unless hostages held by Hamas are freed before he takes office, while Biden has also pushed hard for a deal before he leaves.
Blinken said negotiators wanted to make sure Trump would continue to back the deal on the table so Witkoff’s participation has been “critical.”
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told reporters on Monday the negotiations were at a “pivotal” point, with gaps between two sides slowly getting removed. “I think there is a good chance we can close this … the parties are right on the cusp of being able to close this deal,” he said.
A Hamas official told Reuters there had been some progress on some core issues “and we are working to conclude what remains soon.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reporters: “There is progress, it looks much better than previously. I want to thank our American friends for the huge efforts they are investing to secure a hostage deal.”
In Cairo, an Egyptian security official told Reuters the draft sent to the two warring sides did not comprise the final agreement but “aims to resolve outstanding issues that had hindered previous negotiations”.
ISRAELI OFFICIAL OUTLINES DETAILS OF DEAL
An Israeli official who briefed reporters on the proposed deal said its first stage would see 33 hostages set free, including children, women, including female soldiers, men above 50, and the wounded and sick.
On the 16th day from the deal taking effect, negotiations would start on a second stage during which the remaining living hostages – male soldiers and men of military age – would be released and the bodies of dead hostages returned.
The deal would see a phased troop withdrawal, with Israeli forces remaining in the border perimeter to defend Israeli border towns and villages. In addition, there would be security arrangements in the Philadelphi corridor, along the southern edge of Gaza, with Israel withdrawing from parts of it after the first few days of the deal.
Unarmed North Gaza residents would be allowed back, with a mechanism to ensure no weapons are moved there. Israeli troops will withdraw from the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza.
The Israeli official said Palestinian militants convicted of murder or deadly attacks would also be released but numbers would depend on the number of live hostages, which was still unknown, and they would not include fighters who took part in the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Israel’s Channel 12 said Israeli government institutions had been told to prepare for the intake of weak and sick hostages.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and his Religious Zionism party, a hardline nationalist party which has opposed previous attempts at a deal, said all its members would oppose a deal that didn’t achieve Hamas’ “destruction” and the latest proposal endangered Israel’s national security.
Bloodshed continued in Gaza on Monday. Residents reported a series of explosions in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip that targeted homes and roads. Palestinian health officials said at least 40 Palestinians were killed and dozens were wounded in Israeli military strikes in the Gaza Strip on Monday.
The Israeli military said five soldiers had been killed in fighting in northern Gaza, bringing to nine the number of its troops killed since Saturday.
(Reporting by Andrew Mills in Doha, Nidal Al Mughrabi in Cairo; Additional reporting by James Mackenzie, Maayan Lubell, Emily Rose in Jerusalem, Ahmed Mohamed Hassan in Cairo, Andrea Shalal, Trevor Hunnicutt, Susan Heavey and David Brunnstrom, Andrea Shalal, Simon Lewis and Daphne Psaledakis in Washington; Writing by David Brunnstrom, Andrew Mills, Michael Georgy and William Maclean; Editing by Gareth Jones, Peter Graff, Nia Williams and Don Durfee)
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