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TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Negotiators will meet in Doha on Tuesday to finalize details of a plan to end the war in Gaza which has upended the Middle East, after U.S. President Joe Biden indicated a ceasefire and hostage release deal was imminent.
Mediators gave Israel and Hamas a final draft of an agreement on Monday, an official briefed on the negotiations said, after a midnight "breakthrough" in talks attended by envoys of both Biden and President-elect Donald Trump.
A Palestinian source close to the talks told Reuters he expected the deal to be finalized on Tuesday if "all goes well."
David Barnea, director of Israel's spy service Mossad, Ronen Bar director of Israel's Shin Bet internal security, Steve Witkoff, Trump's incoming Middle East envoy; Brett McGurk, Biden's outgoing Middle East envoy and Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani were hoping to hammer out a deal.
"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," Biden said on Monday.
If successful, the phased ceasefire could cap over a year of start-and-stop talks and lead to the biggest release of Israeli hostages since the early days of the conflict, when Hamas freed about half of its captives in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners and detainees jailed in Israel.
It could also ease tensions in the Middle East, where the war has killed tens of thousands and left Gaza in ruins.
Iran and its allies have attacked Israel in support of the Palestinians in Gaza. Israel struck Iran and assassinated top leaders of Hamas and Lebanon's Hezbollah and reduced their arsenals, dealing serious blows to its enemies.
In the aftermath, the decades-long Assad regime in Syria was overturned, removing another major Iranian ally and leaving Israel's military effectively unchallenged in the region.
The official briefed on the talks said the text for a ceasefire and release of hostages was presented by Qatar to both sides in Doha.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the ball was in Hamas' court. He is due to present a post-war plan for Gaza on Tuesday, Axios reported.
Israel and Hamas have said they were keen to reach a deal to end the fighting. "The negotiation over some core issues made progress and we are working to conclude what remains soon," a Hamas official said.
TALKS IN ADVANCED STAGES
An Israeli official said negotiations were in advanced stages for the release of 33 of 98 hostages still in Gaza, in the first stage of the deal.
In return, Israel will free 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, according to the Palestinian source close to the talks who said the first phase would last for 60 days.
Israel launched its assault in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across its borders on Oct.7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of its population displaced.
On the ground, violence continued on Tuesday, with Palestinian medics reporting at least 25 people were killed in Israeli strikes across the enclave.
The warring sides have broadly agreed for months on the principle of halting the fighting in return for a hostages-for-prisoners swap deal.
But Hamas has insisted a deal must end the war, while Israel has said it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled and no longer poses a threat.
Trump's Jan. 20 inauguration is now widely seen as a de facto deadline for a ceasefire agreement. Trump has said there would be "hell to pay" unless hostages held by Hamas are freed before he takes office.
Blinken said negotiators wanted to make sure Trump would continue to back the deal on the table so the attendance at the ceasefire talks of Trump's Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, along with Biden's envoy Brett McGurk, has been "critical."
An Israeli official said the deal's first stage would include the release of 33 hostages, including children, women, female soldiers, men above 50, and the wounded and sick and a gradual, partial withdrawal of Israeli forces.
REUTERS | ANDREW MILLS | NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI | MAAYAN LUBELL
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