Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden talked on Sunday about efforts to reach a ceasefire and release hostages in the war between Israel and Hamas, a sign of increased efforts to reach an agreement ahead of Donald Trump's upcoming inauguration.
Talks involving the United States, Egypt and Qatar last year repeatedly stalled when they appeared to be close to an agreement. In recent days, U.S. officials have expressed hope of sealing the deal.
Sunday's conversation between Biden and Netanyahu took place while the head of Israel's Mossad foreign intelligence agency, David Barnea, and Biden's top adviser on the Middle East, Brett McGurk, were in the Qatari capital Doha. Barnea's presence, confirmed by Netanyahu's office, meant that high-level Israeli officials were now involved in the talks and would have to sign any agreement.
McGurk is working on final details of the text to be presented to both sides, Biden's national security adviser Jake Sullivan told CNN. State of the Union. However, he said he could not predict whether an agreement would be reached by January 20, the day of the inauguration.
“We are very, very close,” he said. “And yet being very close means we are far away, because until you reach the finish line, we won't be there.”
The White House and Netanyahu's office confirmed the two leaders' phone call, without providing details.
During the 15 months of the war, only one short ceasefire was achieved, and that was in the first weeks of fighting. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week that an agreement was “very close” and he hoped it would be finalized before diplomacy was handed over to the incoming Trump administration.
A gradual ceasefire is currently being discussed, and Netanyahu has signaled that he is only committed to the first phase, a partial release of hostages in exchange for a week's cessation of fighting.
Hamas has insisted on a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the largely devastated territory, but Netanyahu has insisted on destroying Hamas's ability to fight in Gaza.
Talks aimed at brokering a ceasefire and the release of hostages between Israel and Hamas have resumed in Cairo, with sources close to the negotiations saying an agreement could be signed in the coming days. Palestinians in the southern Gaza Strip express hope that this round of talks will end the war and allow life to resume.
The topics of the talks included which hostages would be released in the first part of the phased ceasefire agreement, what conditions the detained Palestinians would be released from, and the scope of the withdrawal of Israeli troops from population centers in Gaza.
More than 46,000 Palestinians have died in the Israeli campaign in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the territory's Ministry of Health, which does not differentiate between fighters and civilians.
The Israeli campaign was launched by a Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, in which militants killed approximately 1,200 people and abducted approximately 250 others, according to Israeli data.
The families of about 100 hostages still held in Gaza are pressing Netanyahu to reach a deal to bring their loved ones home. Israelis gathered again Saturday evening in Tel Aviv, displaying photos of the hostages.
In Gaza, Palestinians held back their hopes for an end to the Israeli campaign that has devastated much of the territory and driven more than 80 percent of its 2.3 million inhabitants from their homes.
“Every day we hear that negotiations are going on, but we see nothing,” said Mazen Hammad, a resident of the southern town of Khan Younis. “When we see it on the ground, we believe there has been a truce.”