As of Monday, the sources said US officials believe a ceasefire agreement could very well be announced in the final days of President Joe Biden's term in office, but they emphasized that officials will remain cautious until the negotiations result in a final deal to end the Gaza conflict. "There has been significant progress made," US Deputy National Security Advisor Jon Finer told earlier Monday. This has been a long time coming, so I'm not going to sit here and make predictions," Finer stated. On a fundamental level, we think that progress is being made. Hamas ought to agree to the agreement that is being offered.
On Monday morning, a Hamas spokesman stated that the organization is "very close to an agreement" with Israel. Additionally, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar reported some success on Monday, stating that "progress was made" and that Israel is making every effort to reach an agreement in the current negotiations being held in the Qatari capital of Doha.
Israel desires a hostage exchange. At a press conference in Jerusalem, Saar stated, "Israel is working with our American friends to achieve a hostage deal, and soon we will know whether the other side wants the same thing."
These include the requests made by Hamas for Israel to leave the Philadelphi corridor, a small area along the border between Egypt and Gaza, and pledge to maintain a permanent truce instead of a short-term one that was imposed in response to the October 7, 2023, Hamas onslaught on southern Israel.
There is still disagreement over an Israeli-proposed buffer zone inside Gaza that would run along the northern and eastern boundaries of the strip with Israel. According to the official, Israel is asking for a significantly deeper buffer zone of 2,000 meters, while Hamas wants it to revert to its pre-October 7 dimensions of 300–500 meters (330–545 yards) from the boundary line.
The official stated, "We think this means that displaced people will not return to their homes and that 60 km (37 miles) of the Gaza Strip will remain under their control."
The Hamas source added that in addition to those main requests, negotiators were working out the specifics of the release of Palestinian captives and maps that showed the locations from which Israeli forces would depart. In a separate interview with on Monday, Qadura Fares, the president of the Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees, stated that he is going to Doha to advise negotiators on the list of detainees who will be released "should the deal materialize."
However, Bezalel Smotrich, Israel's far-right Finance Minister, dampened the optimism on Monday by claiming that the ceasefire-hostage agreement would be a "catastrophe" for Israel's national security. Smotrich referred to it as a "surrender deal" in a post on X, saying that it would involve "dissolving" the war's accomplishments and freeing "terrorists."
Ten members of the Likud party, led by Benjamin Netanyahu, wrote to the Israeli prime minister on Monday to voice their concerns about a possible deal and to reiterate three "red lines" that should not be violated. The Knesset members contended that in any framework for a solution, Israel should not be forced to rely on outside security, all captives should be returned, and a mass return to northern Gaza should be avoided.
In their first publicly reported phone conversation since October, Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden discussed the status of the discussions on Sunday. Netanyahu is under pressure from the current and future US administrations to achieve an agreement. He met with Steve Witkoff, President-elect Donald Trump's new Middle East envoy, on Saturday.
In an effort to reach a ceasefire agreement, Witkoff and Brett McGurk, Biden's Middle East coordinator, who are both now in the area, have been collaborating with mediators in recent days, according to individuals who spoke to Reporter. Netanyahu and the two US envoys had also spoken over the phone together. According to sources, Biden's national security advisor Jake Sullivan met closely with Qatar's prime minister and senior Israeli officials, including David Barnea, on Monday. Trump is the motivation for Israel to reach an agreement with Hamas, a source familiar with the ceasefire-hostage negotiations said on Monday. Netanyahu "wants to remain close to Trump," according to the source. He (Netanyahu) has a larger goal in mind about this. And it's crucial to stay on course with Trump, you know. That's the problem," the person continued. They stated that "we have to get to a framework" by January 20, the day Trump takes office, even if there is no agreement by then.
While a deal before January 20 is "possible," US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told Jake Tapper on Sunday that he "cannot make any predictions." "We are extremely close, but that doesn't mean we're close because we're not there until you cross the finish line," Sullivan remarked. Some of the remaining discrepancies that existed in recent weeks "have been resolved or narrowed," according to Finer's statement See More...
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