Negotiators met in Qatar on Tuesday in hopes of hammering out the final details of a ceasefire in Gaza, with mediators and warring parties describing the agreement as closer than ever. More than six hours after the talks began, there was no news about the outcome.
The Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a press conference that talks on the final details are ongoing after the two sides presented a text. US President Joe Biden, whose administration is participating alongside President-elect Donald Trump’s envoy, said that an agreement is close.
Hamas said that the talks had reached the final steps, and that it hoped that this round of negotiations would lead to an agreement after the mediation of Qatar, Egypt, and the United States. An Israeli official said that the talks had reached a critical stage, although some details needed to be worked out: “We are close, and we have not reached this stage yet.”
The Islamic Jihad movement, which is separate from Hamas and is also holding hostages in Gaza, said it will send a high-level delegation that will arrive in Doha on Tuesday evening to participate in the final arrangements for the ceasefire agreement.
If the interim ceasefire – which culminated more than a year of initial talks – succeeds, it could stop the fighting that has devastated Gaza, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, left most of the Strip’s residents homeless and still kills dozens daily. This, in turn, could ease tensions across West Asia, where the war has fueled conflict in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and raised fears of all-out war between Israel and Iran. Israel will recover about 100 hostages and remaining bodies from among those captured in the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas that precipitated the war. In return, it will release Palestinian detainees.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that it is up to Hamas to accept the deal that has already been put in place for implementation. According to two officials involved in the talks, Hamas has accepted the draft agreement.
If an agreement is reached, it will not enter into force immediately. The plan would need approval from Prime Minister Netanyahu’s security cabinet and then his full cabinet. Both are dominated by his allies and are likely to agree to any proposal he makes. But far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich warned on Monday that he would oppose the deal on the table, describing it as a “disaster for Israeli national security.” The second far-right member of Netanyahu’s government, National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, said on Tuesday that he was also opposed to reaching an agreement.
The families of the hostages in Israel were on the brink of the abyss. Merav Leshem Gonen, whose 24-year-old daughter Rumi was shot and kidnapped by gunmen during a music festival, said her family had been imagining her return for months. “We have to keep our feet on the ground. But on the other hand, our heads are in the clouds.”
