Israeli safety and coverage chiefs arrived in Qatar on Sunday for high-level talks a few proposed cease-fire deal in Gaza that might see hostages launched within the remaining days of President Biden’s time period and earlier than Donald J. Trump takes workplace.
Biden administration officers have been urgent for a deal that might turn out to be a part of the departing president’s legacy, and Mr. Trump has warned that “all hell will escape within the Center East” if Hamas doesn’t launch the hostages earlier than he’s inaugurated on Jan. 20.
Decrease-level negotiations have been underway in latest weeks after months of impasse.
Whereas some progress has been made, disagreements stay on a number of key factors, together with the timing and extent of Israel’s redeployments and withdrawal from Gaza and its willingness to finally finish the warfare, in accordance with a number of officers and a Palestinian acquainted with the matter. They have been talking on the situation of anonymity as a result of the talks are being held in secrecy they usually weren’t licensed to debate particulars publicly.
Representatives of the departing and incoming U.S. presidents have been cooperating on the difficulty, the Biden administration has mentioned, whereas Qatar and Egypt are mediating between Israel and Hamas.
Brett M. McGurk, Mr. Biden’s Center East coordinator, was already in Doha, Qatar’s capital, placing collectively the ultimate particulars of a textual content settlement to current to the 2 sides, Jake Sullivan, the president’s nationwide safety adviser, mentioned Sunday on “State of the Union” on CNN.
“We’re very, very shut, and but being very shut nonetheless means we’re far as a result of till you truly get throughout the end line we’re not there,” Mr. Sullivan mentioned.
Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken referred to months of efforts to achieve a deal, saying in an interview on “CBS Sunday Morning” that “we’re very near a cease-fire and hostage settlement.”
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Mr. Biden spoke by telephone later Sunday. The 2 leaders mentioned the present negotiations in Doha for a cease-fire and hostage launch deal, in accordance with statements from the White Home and Mr. Netanyahu’s workplace. Mr. Netanyahu “thanked President Biden and President-elect Donald Trump for cooperating on this sacred mission,” in accordance with the prime minister’s workplace.
Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s supposed Center East envoy, met Mr. Netanyahu in Israel on Saturday. On Friday, Mr. Witkoff was in Doha and met the Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al-Thani, for talks that targeted on efforts to achieve a cease-fire in Gaza, according to Qatar’s Foreign Ministry.
Mr. Netanyahu’s workplace introduced late Saturday that he had mentioned the difficulty with Israel’s safety chiefs and with negotiators from each the departing and incoming American administrations. He additionally instructed Israel’s high negotiators — together with David Barnea, the pinnacle of the Mossad intelligence company — to depart for Qatar with the purpose of advancing a deal, Mr. Netanyahu’s workplace mentioned.
Disagreements between Israel and Hamas stay the basic concern of the permanency of any cease-fire, with Mr. Netanyahu nonetheless unwilling to declare an finish of the warfare as a part of a three-phase settlement that Mr. Biden laid out final Might.
Israel is insisting on a vaguer system that leaves room for ambiguity and for a resumption of preventing sooner or later, in accordance with the Palestinian acquainted with the matter and two Israeli officers. One other official acquainted with the matter mentioned the Individuals have been supposed to supply mediators with a assure that the USA would work to deliver the warfare to an finish, although Israel has not agreed to any actual phrasing.
Hamas can also be demanding detailed maps from Israel exhibiting the place it would withdraw to, however Israel has not supplied them, in accordance with the officers and the Palestinian acquainted with the matter. They added that disagreements stay concerning the timing of an Israeli troop withdrawal from the Philadelphi Hall, a strip of land abutting Gaza’s border with Egypt, though the 2 Israeli officers mentioned the perimeters have been near resolving this level.
These two officers added that the perimeters have been near a compromise that might permit Israel to hold out army operations through the first section of the deal as much as a kilometer inside Gaza, or nearly two-thirds of a mile. Israel had needed the flexibility to maneuver as much as 1.5 kilometers into Gaza, they mentioned. The Palestinian acquainted with the matter mentioned Hamas had needed any incursions restricted to inside 500 meters of the border.
Practically 100 hostages who have been seized through the Hamas-led assault in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, stay in Gaza, out of roughly 250 who have been taken. Israel believes not less than a 3rd of the remaining hostages are lifeless.
Israel and Hamas have each proven indicators of eager to resolve the excellent points, as strain mounts from the USA and the Israeli public. Final week Hamas representatives indicated that the group had authorised an Israeli listing of 34 hostages to be launched within the first stage of an settlement.
However Israel mentioned final week that it had not obtained any data from Hamas relating to the standing of the hostages showing on the listing, which incorporates these it considers essentially the most weak and pressing instances: girls and youngsters, males over 50 and a number of other sick or injured hostages.
Hamas has additionally agreed to Israel’s request to incorporate 11 contested people on the listing of hostages to be launched within the first section of a deal. Israel classifies these as civilians, however Hamas considers them troopers, in accordance with the 2 Israeli officers and the Palestinian. Israel is weighing Hamas’s demand that the 11 be handled as troopers who can be exchanged for the next variety of Palestinian prisoners than these launched for civilian hostages.
Israel has demanded an inventory from Hamas of which hostages stay alive. With out that, Israeli officers say, there might be no settlement on what number of Palestinian prisoners Israel can be keen to launch in alternate for them. As of Sunday morning, Israel had not obtained an inventory of hostages who’re nonetheless alive, in accordance with one of many officers acquainted with the matter.
The physique of one of many hostages whose title appeared on the listing of 34 — Youssef Ziyadne, 53, an Arab citizen of Israel — was positioned final week by Israeli forces in a tunnel in Gaza together with the stays of his son, Hamza Ziyadne, who was additionally captured through the 2023 assault.
The Israeli army introduced the stays of each males again to Israel for burial.
Mr. Sullivan, the U.S. nationwide safety adviser, mentioned that Mr. Biden burdened that the primary impediment to a deal had been Hamas.
“We aren’t by any stretch of the creativeness setting this apart,” Mr. Sullivan mentioned. “There’s a risk this comes collectively. There’s additionally a risk, as has occurred so many occasions earlier than, that Hamas particularly stays intransigent.”
Peter Baker contributed reporting from Washington.
