US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone – in Biden’s final week in office – as momentum builds towards a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release.
Israel and Hamas are seen as making progress, but uncertainty remains over key aspects of a potential deal.
The White House said Biden discussed the “fundamentally changed regional circumstances” following the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria and the weakening of Iranian power in the region.
Netanyahu’s office said he had briefed Biden on the instructions he had given to senior negotiators in Doha “to advance the release of the hostages.”
During Sunday’s call, which was the first made public since October, Biden “stressed the urgent need for a cease-fire in Gaza and the return of hostages along with an increase in humanitarian aid made possible by an agreed cessation of hostilities.”
It came a day after Netanyahu sent a top Israeli security delegation, including the directors of the Mossad spy agency and the Shin Bet security service, to indirect talks in the Qatari capital mediated by Qatari, American and Egyptian officials.
Israeli media reported that Netanyahu met with members of his government opposed to the ceasefire agreement to persuade them not to resign.
UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy met his Israeli counterpart in Jerusalem to discuss progress on the deal.
On Saturday, Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met with Israel’s prime minister amid efforts to try to reach an agreement before the president-elect’s January 20 inauguration.
Trump previously said “all hell would break loose” if the hostages were not released before he returned to the White House.
Last Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a deal was “very close” and he hoped to “get it across the border” before Trump takes office. Any deal would be based on the proposals Biden made in May, he added.
Despite the apparent increased activity, uncertainty remains over several key issues – including whether the initial truce will lead to a permanent ceasefire and whether the Israeli military will agree to a full withdrawal from Gaza.
Anshel Pfeffer, Israel correspondent for The Economist, said he doubted a deal would be reached quickly.
“We’ve been here so many times before,” he told the BBC’s Today Programme.
“There’s a little bit more room for optimism, but until there’s an official announcement or a truce or a cease-fire and we start seeing the hostages come out, I’m going to remain skeptical.”
But he added that it is also in the interest of Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement before Trump takes office.
“Fear exists [from Hamas] that Trump will somehow give Israel permission to wreak havoc that has not yet been unleashed in Gaza.”
“Both sides feel so invested, they have suffered so much.”
The war was triggered by a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were returned to Gaza as hostages. In response, Israel launched a military offensive in Gaza to destroy Hamas.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 46,500 people have been killed during the war.
Israel says 94 hostages remain in Gaza, 34 of whom are presumed dead, as well as four other Israelis who were abducted before the war, two of whom are dead.
