A three-stage deal to release the hostages held by Hamas terrorists in Gaza has been reached, and parties are awaiting Hamas’s response, a source told The Jerusalem Post on Monday morning.
This deal was reached after a midnight “breakthrough” in talks attended by envoys of both Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
The official said the text for a ceasefire and release of hostages was presented by Qatar to both sides at talks in Doha, which included the chiefs of Israel’s Mossad and Shin Bet spy agencies and Qatar’s prime minister.
The official said Steve Witkoff, who will become US envoy when Trump returns to the US presidency next week, attended the talks. A US source said the outgoing Biden administration’s envoy, Brett McGurk, was also there.
“The next 24 hours will be pivotal to reaching the deal,” the official said, characterizing the draft as the outcome of a breakthrough reached in the early hours of Monday.
“The hostage deal outline is clear, and Israel has come a long, long way,” an Israeli official told the Post.
“We are moving forward slowly and carefully. We hope that Hamas will stop with its refusals,” the official added.
Though other deals have failed due to the lack of cooperation from Hamas and their negotiators, sources close to the negotiations have expressed optimism that the Gaza-based terror group will accept Israel’s proposals.
“It seems to be going in a positive direction, but [we] must be careful. We know this from past experiences,” the source told the Post Monday morning.
However, Israel has reportedly not received a draft proposal for a deal to halt the fighting in Gaza and return its hostages, an Israeli official told Reuters Monday.
Earlier, an official briefed on the negotiations said Qatar had handed Israel and Hamas a “final” draft of a ceasefire and hostage release agreement designed to end the war in Gaza.
Moving forward on a deal?
Hamas sources told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to end the war following the completion of the first phase of a ceasefire deal.
Al-Araby reported that there has been a “clear shift” in Netanyahu’s position regarding “the process of completing the war after the first stage [of a ceasefire deal].”
The article comes after KAN News reported that Qatar sent Israel “a positive message” regarding Hamas’s intentions to move forward in negotiations on a hostage and ceasefire deal.
A source from Hamas told the London-based news outlet that some of the changes were regarding agreements to postpone discussions on some contentious issues until later stages of the negotiations.
Jerusalem Post Staff, Reuters contributed to this report.
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