After the first day of talks on a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal in Doha, the Israeli delegation is staying on.
A source familiar with the matter told The Jerusalem Post this means “there is what to talk about,” as US officials race to reach a deal before President Joe Biden leaves office on January 20.
A senior delegation led by Mossad head David Barnea, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head Ronen Bar, and IDF Maj.-Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon arrived Sunday in Qatar for talks.
In Doha, they were met by two senior US officials: White House Middle East Coordinator Brett McGurk, and Steve Witkoff, the incoming Middle East envoy for President-elect Donald Trump.
A source told the Post that Witkoff met Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on Sunday.
An Israeli official said, “There are good conversations, but [there are] gaps [that] remain.”
Netanyahu’s phone call with Biden
In Jerusalem on Sunday evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone with Biden. The White House said the two discussed “the ongoing negotiations in Doha” and the mandate Netanyahu gave the delegation.
Biden “stressed the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and return of the hostages with a surge in humanitarian aid enabled by a stoppage in the fighting under the deal,” said the White House.
Biden officials told their Israeli counterparts that a deal must be reached. This message is the same that Israeli officials are hearing from Trump, who told the Qataris and Netanyahu: “A deal needs to be reached by January 20,” a source has confirmed to the Post.
Behind the scenes, Qatari officials have said to Trump administration officials and Israeli officials that they think a deal is within reach, and have sounded optimistic in their conversations, a source told the Post.
Biden and Netanyahu also discussed “the fundamentally changed regional circumstances following the ceasefire deal in Lebanon, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, and the weakening of Iran’s power in the region,” the White House said.
National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told CNN’s State of the Union program earlier on Sunday that the parties were “very, very close” to reaching a deal, but still had to get it across the finish line.
“We are still determined to use every day we have in office to get this done,” Sullivan said, “and we are not, by any stretch of imagination, setting this aside.”
He said there was still a chance to reach an agreement before Biden leaves office, but that “Hamas, in particular, remains intransigent.”
During their call, Netanyahu also thanked Biden for his lifelong support of Israel and “the extraordinary support from the United States for Israel’s security and national defense,” the White House said.
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