After a northern “breakthrough” in talks, Qatari mediator reportedly gave Israel and Hamas the blueprint on Monday ceasefire agreement to end the war in Gaza, Reuters reported, citing an official familiar with the talks.
The official told Reuters that the talks included the heads of Israel's Shin Bet and Mossad spy agencies, the man who will be the US envoy when President-elect Trump takes office next week, Steve Witkoff and Qatar's prime minister. Reuters also reported that Biden administration officials were believed to be involved.
“The next 24 hours will be crucial to getting a deal done,” the official told Reuters.
“We haven't gotten there yet, but there is potential for real progress,” an official close to the talks told CBS News.
What happened to the Israeli-Hamas ceasefire talks?
Israel and Hamas have been in indirect talks aimed at ending it for more than a year war in Gaza and the return of scores of hostages held by militants in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
On Sunday, President Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone about ongoing negotiations. The White House said the two leaders discussed the deal based on an agreement outlined by Mr Biden last year. The Biden administration has pushed for a deal before Trump's January 20 inauguration.
But despite intensive mediation by the United States, Qatar and Egypt, the talks have stalled repeatedly over several key issues, including the details of the exchange, whether the ceasefire would be permanent and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
As each side accused the other of backing down, war broke out.
Dozens of Palestinians are killed every day in Israeli strikes, and most of Gaza's 2.3 million residents huddle in squalid tent cities and their neighborhoods in ruins. Aid groups are scrambling to deliver desperately needed aid, and experts are warning of famine.
In Israel, the families of the hostages hold weekly rallies to demand a deal for their release, fearing that their loved ones will die in the harsh conditions of their captivity the longer the fighting drags on.
What were the main points of contention in the ceasefire agreement?
Hamas and other groups are still holding about 100 hostages taken in an attack in southern Israel on October 7, 2023 that sparked a war in which the militants killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapped about 250. The Israeli military said about a third of the hostages are dead, but suspects that the real number may be about half.
Hamas is demanding the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including high-ranking militants convicted of orchestrating attacks that killed civilians. Israel is reluctant to release such prisoners, especially since one of the masterminds of the 2023 attack, slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, was a former prisoner released in such a deal.
The two sides have exchanged lists of names, with Israel demanding more information about which hostages are alive to ensure they get out first. Hamas says at least a brief truce is needed to determine the status of the hostages, as they are being held by different groups in separate secret locations.
The new deal involves a multi-phase plan. In the first phase, Hamas would release the most vulnerable hostages and Israeli forces would withdraw from some areas, allowing some Palestinians to return to their homes and an influx of humanitarian aid.
In the second phase – which will be discussed during the first – the remaining living hostages will be released in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Hamas has said it will not release the remaining hostages without guarantees that the war will end. The Israeli offensive has killed more than 46,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to local health authorities, who did not say how many of the dead were militants.
Hamas is likely to fear that Israel will resume its offensive – and increase its intensity – once the hostages leave and the militants no longer have their most valuable bargaining chip.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to do just that. He says Israel will not end the war until it destroys Hamas' military and leadership capabilities and ensures that the Palestinian armed group no longer poses a threat.
The lack of trust goes both ways, with Israelis fearing that Hamas will delay negotiations on a second phase by extending the ceasefire indefinitely until the hostages are gone.
Negotiations almost broke down due to disagreements
Talks nearly collapsed last summer when Netanyahu said Israel would maintain a long-term presence in the Philadelphia Corridor, a strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border.
Israel says Hamas has long smuggled weapons into Gaza through tunnels under the corridor and that it must control the area to prevent Hamas from regaining the territory. Egypt, a key mediator, says it blocked the tunnels years ago and opposes any Israeli presence on its side of the border with Gaza.
Israel also demanded a mechanism to vet people returning to their homes in northern Gaza, where about a million people fled after Israeli evacuation orders at the start of the war. Their return is a key demand of Hamas, the details of which are still being worked out.
Israel says people returning to the north should be searched for weapons. This would likely require an Israeli presence in the so-called Netzarim Corridor, a strip of closed roads and military installations that stretch from the border to the sea south of Gaza City.
The Palestinians oppose any permanent Israeli occupation, although Hamas has reportedly shown flexibility regarding the timetable for the withdrawal of Israeli troops.
Israel says Hamas will never be able to rule Gaza again, but has yet to endorse a realistic plan for an alternative government. With no internal rivals, Hamas was able to regroup quickly after Israeli operations, even in the worst-hit areas, and still controls large swaths of territory.
The Biden administration has long pushed for a grand deal in which a reformed Palestinian Authority would govern a post-war Gaza with the support of Arab and Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, which would also take the historic step of forging ties with Israel.
But Arab and Muslim leaders say they will sign off on such plans only if they include a path to a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank, Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem and Gaza, territories captured by Israel in the 1967 Middle East war.
The Israeli government opposes Palestinian statehood and rules out any role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza. Netanyahu says Israel will maintain continuous control over security while delegating governance to politically independent Palestinians. But no one seems to have volunteered, and Hamas has threatened anyone who cooperates with Israel in governing the territory.
However, Hamas has said it is ready to hand over control of Gaza to other Palestinians. Late last year, it agreed to an Egyptian-brokered plan under which a group of independents would govern the territory under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority, which has yet to accept the proposal.
Hamas has also demanded the lifting of the blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after it seized power in 2007, which experts say is necessary for the reconstruction of Gaza.
Lifting the blockade, however, would allow Hamas to claim a major victory and ultimately restore its military capabilities. This is another non-starter for Israel.