US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by telephone – Biden’s final week in office – as momentum builds for a Gaza ceasefire and agreement for the release of the hostages.
Israel and Hamas appear to be making progress, but uncertainties remain over key aspects of the potential deal.
The White House said Biden discussed “fundamentally changed regional circumstances” following the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon, the fall of the Assad regime in Syria and the weakening of the power of Iran in the region.
Netanyahu’s office said he briefed Biden on instructions he gave to senior negotiators in Doha “to advance the release of the hostages.”
During Sunday’s call, which was the first to be announced publicly since October, Biden “stressed the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of hostages with an increase in humanitarian aid rendered possible by a cessation of fighting within the framework of the agreement”.
This came a day after Netanyahu sent a high-level Israeli security delegation, including the directors of the Mossad spy agency and the Shin Bet security service, to indirect negotiations in the Qatari capital, under the mediation of Qatari, American and Egyptian officials.
Israeli media reported that Netanyahu was meeting with members of his cabinet opposed to a ceasefire deal to persuade them not to resign.
And British Foreign Secretary David Lammy met his Israeli counterpart in Jerusalem to discuss progress on a deal.
Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff met with Israel’s prime minister on Saturday as part of efforts to reach a deal before the president-elect’s Jan. 20 inauguration.
Trump has previously said “all hell will break loose” if the hostages are not released before he returns to the White House.
Last Thursday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said a deal was “very close” and that he hoped to “get through it” before Trump took office. Any deal would be based on proposals Biden presented in May, he added.
Despite the apparently increased activity, a lack of clarity on several key issues – including whether an initial truce will lead to a permanent ceasefire and whether the Israeli military will agree to fully withdraw from Gaza – remains.
Anshel Pfeffer, Israel correspondent for The Economist, said he doubted a deal could be reached quickly.
“We’ve been here so many times before,” he told the BBC’s Today programme.
“There’s still a little room for optimism, but until there’s an official announcement, a truce or a ceasefire and we start seeing hostages come out, I’m going to stay skeptical.”
But he added that it was in the interests of Israel and Hamas to reach an agreement before Trump takes office.
“There is a fear (from Hamas) that Trump will somehow give Israel permission to unleash devastation that has not yet been unleashed on Gaza.”
“Both sides feel so invested, they have suffered so much.”
The war was sparked by the Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, in which around 1,200 people were killed and another 251 taken back to Gaza as hostages. Israel launched a military offensive in Gaza to destroy Hamas in response.
The Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry says more than 46,500 people have been killed during the war.
Israel says 94 of the hostages remain in Gaza, 34 of whom are presumed dead, along with four other Israelis who were kidnapped before the war, two of whom are dead.
