Qatar gives Israel, Hamas final draft of Gaza truce deal after ‘breakthrough’ midnight talks, official says Reuters
By Andrew Mills and Nidal al-Mughrabi
DOHA/CAIRO (Reuters) – Qatari mediator gave Israel and Hamas the final draft of an agreement to end the Gaza war on Monday, following a midnight “breakthrough” in talks attended by an envoy of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump, an official briefed on the talks told Reuters.
The official said the text of the ceasefire and hostage release was agreed upon in Doha talks involving the heads of Israel’s Mossad and Shin Bet intelligence agencies and Qatar’s prime minister, as well as Steve Witkoff, who will become the US envoy when Trump takes office next week. Officials of the US administration are also believed to have participated in the departure.
“The next 24 hours will be crucial to reach an agreement,” the official said.
Israel’s Khan Radio, citing an Israeli official, reported Monday that the delegations of Israel and Hamas in Qatar had received the draft and that the Israeli delegation had briefed Israeli leaders. Israel, Hamas and Qatar’s foreign ministry did not respond to requests for confirmation or comment.
Officials from both sides, while not confirming that a final draft had been reached, described progress in the talks.
A senior Israeli official said the deal could be sealed within days if Hamas responds to the proposal. A Palestinian official close to the talks said the information from Doha was “very promising”, adding: “The gaps have been narrowing and there is a lot of pressure towards an agreement if all goes well until the end.”
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have been working for more than a year to negotiate an end to the war in Gaza, so far without success.
HELL TO PAY
Trump’s January 20 inauguration is now widely seen in the region as a de facto deadline. The president-elect has said there will be “hell to pay” if the hostages held by Hamas are not released before he takes office, while outgoing President Joe Biden has also pushed hard for a deal before he leaves.
The official said the talks continued into the early hours of Monday morning, with Witkoff pushing the Israeli delegation in Doha and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani pushing Hamas officials to finalize the deal.
The head of Egypt’s General Intelligence Agency, Hassan Mahmoud Rashad, was also in the Qatari capital as part of the talks, the official said.
Trump envoy Witkoff has traveled to Qatar and Israel several times since late November. He was in Doha on Friday and traveled to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday before returning to Doha.
Biden also spoke by phone with Netanyahu on Sunday, stressing “the immediate need for a cease-fire in Gaza and the return of hostages along with an increase in humanitarian aid made possible by the cessation of hostilities under the agreement,” the White House said.
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.
For months, both sides have generally agreed on the principle of a cessation of fighting in exchange for the release of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian detainees held by Israel. However, Hamas has insisted that 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 disbands.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, a hard-line nationalist who has opposed previous attempts to reach a deal, denounced the latest proposals as “surrender” and “a disaster for the national security of the State of Israel.”
