By Andrew Mills, Nidal al-Mughrabi and Maayan Lubell
DOHA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Negotiators were trying to hammer out the final details of a Gaza ceasefire on Wednesday after marathon talks in Qatar, with the US and Egyptian leaders vowing to stay in close contact over a deal in the coming hours.
More than eight hours of talks in Doha fueled optimism. Officials with mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US, as well as Israel and Hamas, said a deal for a ceasefire in the besieged enclave and the release of hostages was closer than ever.
But a senior Hamas official told Reuters late on Tuesday that the Palestinian group had not yet submitted its response because it was still waiting for Israel to provide maps showing how its forces would withdraw from Gaza.
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al-Ansari told a news conference earlier that both sides had received the text and that discussions on the final details were ongoing.
US President Joe Biden, whose administration is participating alongside President-elect Donald Trump’s envoy, said a deal was close after the war decimated Gaza, killed tens of thousands of people and sparked conflict in the region.
Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi discussed progress in negotiations on Tuesday.
“Both leaders pledged to remain in close cooperation directly and through their teams over the coming hours,” the White House said in a statement after the leaders’ phone call.
The two presidents “stressed the urgent need to implement the agreement.”
‘CRITICAL PHASE’
Hamas said that the talks have reached the final step and that it hopes that this round of negotiations will lead to an agreement.
An Israeli official said the talks had reached a critical stage, although some details needed to be worked out: “We’re close, we’re not there yet.”
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said he hoped a deal could be reached on the Gaza hostages this week.
During a visit to Rome, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday that he believed most of Israel’s coalition government would support a Gaza deal if it is finally reached, despite vocal opposition from hard-line nationalist parties in the coalition.
The Islamic Jihad militant group, which is separate from Hamas and also holds hostages in Gaza, said it was sending a high-level delegation that would arrive in Doha on Tuesday night to take part in final negotiations for a ceasefire deal.
If successful, the gradual ceasefire – which ends more than a year of start-and-stop negotiations – could halt fighting that has decimated Gaza, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, rendered most of the enclave’s population homeless and is still killing dozens a day.
That in turn could ease tensions in the wider Middle East, where the war has fueled conflicts in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and fueled fears of an all-out war between Israel and Iran.
Israel would recover about 100 remaining hostages and the bodies of those captured in the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas that precipitated the war. In return, he would release the Palestinian detainees.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who gave a speech in Washington outlining a vision for governing the Palestinian territories after the war, said it was up to Hamas to accept a deal that was already set to be implemented.
CHILDREN, WOMEN HOSTAGES WOULD BE FREED FIRST
“The deal … would free the hostages, stop the fighting, provide security for Israel and allow us to significantly increase humanitarian aid to the Palestinians who have suffered terribly in this war started by Hamas,” Biden said Monday.
Despite efforts to reach a ceasefire, Israel’s army, Shin Bet domestic intelligence agency and air force attacked around 50 “terrorist” targets across Gaza over the past 24 hours, according to a Shin Bet and military statement.
Meanwhile, the United Nations said it was busy preparing to expand humanitarian aid to Gaza under a potential ceasefire, but uncertainty over border access and security remained obstacles.
Hostage families in Israel were caught between hope and despair.
“We cannot miss this moment. This is the last moment; we can save them,” said Hadas Calderon, whose husband Ofer and children Sahar and Erez were kidnapped.
An Israeli official said the first phase of the deal would see the release of 33 hostages, including children, women including some soldiers, men over 50, and the wounded and sick. Israel would gradually and partially withdraw some of its forces.
A Palestinian source said Israel would release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in the first phase over 60 days.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas-led fighters stormed across its borders on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli figures.
Since then, Israeli forces have killed more than 46,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials.
In principle, both sides have been committed for months to the prospect of a ceasefire accompanied by the exchange of the remaining hostages for detainees. But Hamas rejected any deal that did not lead to a permanent end to the war, while Israel said it would not end the war until Hamas was disbanded.
Trump’s inauguration on January 20 is now widely seen as the de facto deadline for a ceasefire agreement.
