Negotiators strike a hostage deal that would halt fighting in Gaza for weeks

American-led negotiators have moved closer to an agreement in which Israel would suspend its war in Gaza for about two months in exchange for the release of more than a hundred hostages still held by Hamas, a deal that could happen in the next two weeks are sealed. would transform the conflict consuming the region.

Negotiators have developed a written draft agreement that combines Israel and Hamas's proposals from the past 10 days into a basic framework that will be the subject of Sunday's talks in Paris. While key differences still need to be resolved, negotiators are cautiously optimistic that a final deal is within reach, according to U.S. officials who insisted on anonymity to discuss sensitive talks.

President Biden spoke separately by phone Friday with the leaders of Egypt and Qatar, who have served as intermediaries with Hamas, to narrow remaining differences. He is also sending his CIA director, William J. Burns, to Paris for Sunday's talks with Israeli, Egyptian and Qatari officials. If Mr. Burns makes sufficient progress, Mr. Biden could send his Middle East coordinator, Brett McGurk, who just returned to Washington, back to the region to help finalize the deal.

“Both leaders affirmed that a hostage agreement is critical to achieving a sustained humanitarian pause in the fighting and ensuring that additional lifesaving humanitarian assistance reaches civilians in need across Gaza,” the White House said in a statement Friday evening. the president's conversation with Sheikh Mohammed bin was summarized. Abdulrahman al-Thani, the Prime Minister of Qatar. “They underlined the urgency of the situation and welcomed the close collaboration between their teams to advance recent discussions.”

In a statement in Israel on Saturday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reaffirmed his commitment to securing the release of the hostages who were not released as part of a more limited deal in November. “As of today, we have returned 110 of our hostages and we are committed to returning them all home,” he said. “We have to deal with this and we do it 24 hours a day, even now.”

The hostages have been in captivity since October 7, when Hamas gunmen stormed into Israel, killing an estimated 1,200 people and seizing another 240 in the worst terrorist attack in the country's history. Israel's military retaliation has since killed more than 25,000 people, most of them women and children, according to Israel's Health Ministry. It is not clear how many of the dead in Gaza were Hamas fighters.

The short-lived ceasefire in November, brokered by Mr Biden along with Qatar and Egypt, resulted in a seven-day pause in fighting in exchange for the release of more than 100 hostages by Hamas and about 240 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Hamas. Israel. About 136 people seized on October 7 are still missing, including six US citizens, although about two dozen of them are believed dead.

The agreement now being reached would be broader in scope than the previous one, officials say. In the first phase, fighting stopped for about thirty days, while women, elderly, and wounded hostages were released by Hamas. During that period, the two sides would work out the details of a second phase, which would involve suspending military operations for another 30 days in exchange for the capture of Israeli soldiers and male civilians. The proportion of Palestinians to be released from Israeli prisons remains to be negotiated, but is seen as a solvable issue. The deal would also allow more humanitarian aid to Gaza.

While the deal would not be the permanent ceasefire that Hamas has demanded for the release of all hostages, officials close to the talks believe that if Israel halts the war for two months, the country is unlikely to end it will resume in the same way as before. has held up so far. The ceasefire would provide an opportunity for further diplomacy that could lead to a broader resolution of the conflict.

Such an agreement would provide welcome respite for Mr. Biden, who has drawn criticism from the left wing of his own party for his support of Israel's response to the Oct. 7 attack. Mr. Netanyahu is also under significant pressure to secure the release of the hostages, even as he has pledged to pressure the military operation to destroy Hamas.

But he has also resisted US and international pressure to ease the military campaign against Hamas and reiterated his resolve in his statement on Saturday. “We are determined to complete the task and eliminate Hamas,” he said. “And if it takes time, we will not give in to the mission.”

A new deal could not only ease some of the tension for Biden at home, it could also de-escalate the volatile situation in the broader Middle East. During the seven-day lull in November, other Iranian proxy groups, such as the Houthis and Hezbollah, also halted low-level attacks they had mounted against American, Israeli and other targets.

After the November break collapsed, Hamas and Israel effectively stopped communicating through their intermediaries. But the ice was broken by a more limited deal announced on January 16 that allows for the delivery of medicine to Israeli hostages in exchange for more medicine and aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza. That became what some called a proof of concept.

From then on, both Israel and Hamas submitted paper proposals for a broader agreement and American intermediaries merged them into one draft agreement. Mr. Biden spoke by phone with Mr. Netanyahu on Jan. 19, their first conversation in nearly a month, and the two discussed how to proceed with the hostages.

Two days later, the president sent Mr. McGurk to the region, where he met with General Abbas Kamel, the head of Egypt's General Intelligence Directorate and the country's second most powerful official, as well as Sheikh Mohammed of Qatar. The talks became complicated when Israeli media played a cassette tape in which Mr. Netanyahu privately called Qatar's role as a mediator “problematic” because of its relationship with Hamas, prompting Qatar to call the comments “irresponsible and destructive.”

Mr. McGurk returned to Washington on Friday and met Mr. Biden in the Oval Office, along with Mr. Burns and Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken, who has also been touring the region. With his advisers at his side, Mr Biden then separately called President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt and Sheikh Mohammed.

“They affirmed that every effort must now be made to reach an agreement that would result in the release of all hostages, along with a sustained humanitarian pause in the fighting,” the White House said in its summary of the call with Mr Sisi.