Mediators were set to meet Tuesday in Qatar to try to finalize a proposed ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
The talks come after 15 months of fighting and what people familiar with the negotiations said was a breakthrough this week in the effort to bring an end to the war in Gaza.
U.S. President Joe Biden said Monday that the deal was on “the brink” of “finally coming to fruition.”
In a speech at the State Department to highlight his foreign policy achievements, Biden said the deal would “free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started.”
The basic parameters of the ceasefire proposal would see the process play out in several stages.
Hamas would release hostages it has been holding since the militants carried out their October 2023 attack on Israel, while Israeli authorities would release Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli troops would carry out a phased withdrawal from Gaza, and some Palestinians displaced by the conflict would be allowed to return along with a surge in aid for Palestinian civilians.
Months of negotiations led by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have failed to bring a halt to the fighting, but in recent weeks, the effort has gained momentum at a time when the U.S. is preparing to go through a change in its leadership.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told MSNBC on Monday that the sides were “closer than we’ve ever been” to a deal, and said the ball was in Hamas’ court.
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan said Monday that Biden administration officials were keeping President-elect Donald Trump’s Mideast advisers abreast of the negotiations. Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, has been involved in the latest round of talks.
Israel launched its assault on Hamas in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across its borders on October 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 46,500 people have been killed in Gaza, with most of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials, although Israel says the death toll includes thousands of Hamas combatants it has killed.
Much of Gaza, a narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea, has been laid to waste during the fighting and gripped by a humanitarian crisis, with most of its 2.3 million population displaced, often multiple times.
White House bureau chief Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report. Some material came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
