Speaking at a news conference, US National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan, said that there was a “distinct possibility” that a ceasefire deal could be reached before Joe Biden leaves office, as the “pressure is building for Hamas to come to yes.”
He noted, “It’s there for the taking so the question is now can we all collectively seize the moment and make this happen.”
Senior Biden administration officials have said that they believe a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas may still be concluded before Donald Trump’s inauguration next week as the Israeli government has also confirmed progress in the last-ditch talks.
Sulivan’s remarks came after Gideon Saar, Israel’s Foreign Minister, described progress in talks for a Gaza ceasefire and the release of Israeli hostages amid intensifying indirect negotiations in Qatar attended by Trump’s Middle East envoy.
Saar, speaking at a joint press conference with his Danish counterpart, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, said Israel was working hard to reach a deal.
Israel and Hamas have been holding indirect talks for more than a year mediated by Qatar, the US and Egypt but they have previously stalled over issues including the exchange of hostages for Palestinians held in Israeli jails, whether a ceasefire is permanent and the extent of the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
Officials on both sides stopped short of confirming that a final draft had been reached in Qatar – which would still need to be agreed by both sides to bring an end to the war – but described progress after reports of a midnight “breakthrough” in talks attended by Steve Witkoff, Trump’s envoy to the region.
On Saturday, Witkoff, after meeting the Qatari prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, flew to Israel where he met Netanyahu, who, following their discussion, sent the director of the Mossad intelligence agency, David Barnea, to Qatar’s capital “in order to continue advancing a deal to release our hostages.”
The talks included Barnea, Qatar’s Prime Minister, as well as Witkoff and officials from the outgoing US administration.
There were conflicting reports on Hamas’s position. Saudi news outlet Al Hadath said it had submitted its final response “without any comments [asking for changes] on the draft of the Gaza agreement” but an official told a different news agency that a number of issues still needed to be resolved, including details about the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the hostage-prisoner exchange.
The outgoing US President had on Sunday stressed to the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, the “immediate need” for a ceasefire and a hostage release deal, the White House said in a readout of their conversation.
Biden urged the return of the Israeli hostages still held captive in Gaza with an increase in humanitarian aid enabled by a stoppage in the fighting under the deal.
Race For Agreement Before Trump’s Inauguration
This comes as US officials race to reach an agreement before Trump takes office on January 20, 2025.
His inauguration is widely seen as a de facto deadline after Trump said there would be “hell to pay” unless hostages held by Hamas were freed by that date.
Both sides have agreed for months broadly on the principle of halting the fighting in return for the release of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
Hamas has, however, always insisted the deal must lead to a permanent end to the war and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel has said it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled.
Meanwhile, the families of the hostages who have been protesting against the Israeli government for months fear the optimism for a deal that now more than ever seems close may be hindered by the far-right parties of Netanyahu’s coalition that refuse to accept an agreement until Hamas is completely defeated.
