According to sources briefed on the meeting on Tuesday, negotiations in Cairo are moving forward, paving the way for an agreement to end the 14-month-old conflict in Gaza and release hostages held in the Palestinian enclave in the coming days.
Before President Joe Biden leaves office next month, the US administration has been working hard in recent days to move the negotiations along with the help of mediators from Egypt and Qatar.
White House spokesperson John Kirby stated in an interview with Fox News, “We believe—and the Israelis have said this—that we’re getting closer, and without a doubt, we believe that, but we also are cautious in our optimism.”
The sources suggest that in a matter of days, they could reach a ceasefire agreement that would halt the fighting and return hostages held by the Islamist group Hamas in Gaza in exchange for Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli prisons.
Other informed sources told Reuters that Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, the prime minister of Qatar, was due to meet with CIA Director William Burns, a key US negotiator, in Doha on Wednesday to discuss closing the remaining gaps between Israel and Hamas.
CIA refused to comment.
Hamas said they could reach a deal if Israel stopped imposing new requirements. Negotiations are serious, and talks are underway at every word, according to a Palestinian official involved in the mediation efforts.
According to a statement from Netanyahu’s office, Netanyahu met with top military and security officials on Tuesday on Mount Hermon, a strategic plateau just inside Syria, but sources briefed on the meeting claimed he was heading to Cairo.
His spokesperson also sent a message to Israeli correspondents stating, “The prime minister is not in Cairo.”
According to two Egyptian security sources, Netanyahu was not in Cairo “at this moment,” but a meeting was in progress to resolve the remaining issues, the most important of which was a demand by Hamas for assurances that any initial agreement would eventually result in a comprehensive one.
They were making headway, according to the Egyptian sources, and Tuesday night could be pivotal in determining the course of action.
As scheduled, Netanyahu testified at his corruption trial on Tuesday. On Monday, he met with Adam Boehler, the US President-elect Donald Trump’s special envoy for hostage affairs, in Israel.
During a press conference in Florida on Monday, Trump restated his warning that “all hell is going to break out” if Hamas does not free its hostages by his inauguration day of January 20.
Trump later said, “It’s not going to be pleasant” if he doesn’t achieve a ceasefire agreement by the time he takes office. He did not go into detail.
According to US and Israeli officials, negotiations mediated by Egypt and Qatar could reach a deal by the end of the month, although they have warned that the talks could fail.
In an effort to close the gaps between Israel and Hamas on a deal Biden laid out in May, Israeli negotiators were in Doha on Monday.
Due to Israel’s insistence on maintaining a military presence in Gaza and Hamas’s refusal to release hostages until the troops have left, numerous rounds of negotiations have failed over the past year.
The war in Gaza has shocked the Middle East and isolated Israel globally. A Hamas-led attack on communities in southern Israel ignited the war, resulting in the deaths of approximately 1,200 people and the kidnapping of over 250 others.
Israel’s campaign has resulted in the displacement of the majority of the 2.3 million Palestinians, the death of over 45,000 of them, and the destruction of much of the coastal enclave.
According to medical professionals, Israeli airstrikes on Tuesday killed extended families in homes in two areas of the northern Gaza Strip.
While at least 15 people were thought to be dead or missing beneath the debris of a house struck around dawn in the town of Beit Lahiya further north, at least 10 people were confirmed dead in an airstrike that destroyed a house in Gaza City.
