US President Joe Biden has says a ceasefire and hostage release deal is “on the brink” of completion, following optimism from Israel and Hamas officials as negotiations are underway in Qatar, the Washington Post reported on Tuesday.
Biden’s remarks came a day after he spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about the negotiations, with the president stressing “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,” the White House said.
A deal could be completed “this week,” national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters Monday.
Basem Naim, a senior Hamas official, also said “significant progress” had been made in the talks and that the mediators – Qatar, Egypt and the US – had presented the warring parties with a final draft agreement. “We are so close,” he said in a message to The Washington Post.
High-level meetings were taking place in Qatar on Monday, the government said in a statement, with Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani meeting Khalil al-Hayya, a Hamas leader.
The Qatari leader also met Brett McGurk, a National Security Council official leading Biden’s negotiations, and Steve Witkoff, President-elect Donald Trump’s designated Middle East special envoy.
Addressing a joint press conference with his Danish counterpart on Monday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said there was “progress in the negotiations”.
Hopes for a long-awaited ceasefire deal in Gaza were renewed over the weekend after Netanyahu sent the chiefs of Israel’s domestic and external intelligence agencies, along with other senior officials, to Doha. Netanyahu also met officials from the Biden administration on Saturday.
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