Biden likely to talk to Netanyahu; Hostage deal ‘very close’, security adviser says By Reuters
Author: Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden is likely to speak with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu soon, his national security adviser said on Sunday, as U.S. officials race to reach a deal on Gaza hostages and a ceasefire before Biden leaves office on 20 January.
Jake Sullivan told CNN’s “State of the Union” that the sides are “very, very close” to reaching an agreement to end fighting in the enclave and release the remaining 98 hostages held there, but still need to reach an agreement. line.
Biden received daily updates on talks in Doha, where Israeli and Palestinian officials said as of Thursday that some progress had been made in indirect talks between Israel and the Hamas militant group, Sullivan said.
“We’re still determined to use every day we have in office to do that,” he said, adding that Biden “probably, in the near future, will work with Prime Minister Netanyahu, and we’re not by any stretch of the imagination, putting this aside. “
He said there was still a chance a deal could be reached before Biden leaves office, but it was also possible that “Hamas, in particular, remains intransigent.”
Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across its borders in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of the enclave devastated and engulfed in a humanitarian crisis and most of the population displaced.
Vice President-elect JD Vance told “Fox News Sunday” in an interview taped Saturday that he expects a deal to release American hostages in the Middle East to be announced in the final days of the Biden administration, perhaps in the last day or two.
President-elect Donald Trump, a staunch supporter of Israel, strongly supported Netanyahu’s goal of destroying Hamas. He promised to bring peace to the Middle East, but did not say how he would achieve it.
