Negotiations on a cease-fire-for-hostages deal in the Gaza conflict appear to be in their closing stages, and U.S. President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will discuss remaining gaps Thursday, a senior U.S. official said Wednesday.
The official, briefing reporters ahead of their talks, said that the remaining obstacles were bridgeable and that there would be more meetings on an Israel-Hamas deal over the next week.
Hamas-led fighters stormed into southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 captives, according to Israeli tallies, triggering a war in which more than 39,000 people in Gaza have been killed, according to the territory’s health ministry, which does not distinguish between combatants and civilians in its count. In May, Israel estimated the death toll at 30,000 and said that most of the dead were combatants.
Hamas and other militants are still holding 120 hostages; Israel believes about a third of them are dead.
Months of stop-and-start talks have failed to produce a deal to gain release of at least some hostages.
The senior U.S. official said both Israel and Hamas still had some issues to resolve but that a deal was close in which a six-week cease-fire would take place in exchange for the release of women, elderly men and wounded hostages over a 42-day period.
“It’s a very different negotiation now than just a month ago, when we had some fundamentally unbridgeable issues,” the official said.
Biden will hold talks with Netanyahu, and Vice President Kamala Harris will have a separate meeting with the Israeli leader later in the day.
Harris has taken over as the presumed Democratic choice for the November presidential election against Republican Donald Trump, after Biden opted not to seek reelection under pressure from Democrats concerned about his mental acuity.
The senior U.S. official said both Biden and Harris were “completely aligned” on U.S. policy toward Israel and Gaza.
“The Israelis will hear full alignment,” the official said.
