Gaza ceasefire deal close after ‘breakthrough’ in Doha
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The text for a ceasefire and release of hostages was presented by Qatar to both sides at talks in Doha.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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DOHA/CAIRO - Negotiators will meet in Doha on Jan 14 to finalise details of a plan to end the war in Gaza that has upended the Middle East, after US President Joe Biden indicated a ceasefire and hostage release deal was imminent.
Mediators gave Israel and Hamas a final draft of a deal
A Palestinian source close to the talks told Reuters he expected the deal to be finalised on Jan 14 if “all goes well”.
Mr David Barnea, director of Israel’s spy service Mossad; Mr Ronen Bar, director of Israel’s Shin Bet internal security; Mr Steve Witkoff, Trump’s incoming Middle East envoy; Mr Brett McGurk, Mr Biden’s outgoing Middle East envoy; and Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani were hoping to hammer out a deal.
“The deal... would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started,” Mr Biden said on Jan 13.
If successful, the phased ceasefire would cap more than a year of start-and-stop talks and lead to the biggest release of Israeli hostages since the early days of the conflict, when Hamas freed about half of its captives in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners and detainees held by Israel.
It could also ease tensions in the Middle East, where the war has killed tens of thousands and left Gaza in ruins.
Iran and its allies have attacked Israel in support of the Palestinians in Gaza. Israel struck Iran and assassinated top leaders of Hamas and Lebanon’s Hezbollah and reduced their arsenals, dealing serious blows to its enemies.
In the aftermath, the decades-long Assad regime in Syria was overturned, removing another major Iranian ally and leaving Israel’s military effectively unchallenged in the region.
The official briefed on the talks, who did not want to be identified, said the text for a ceasefire and release of hostages was presented by Qatar to both sides at talks in Doha.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the ball was in Hamas' court. He is due to present a post-war plan for Gaza on Jan 14, Axios reported.
"I think there is a good chance we can close this... the parties are right on the cusp of being able to close this deal," Mr Biden’s national security adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters on Jan 13.
Israel and Hamas have said they were keen to reach a deal to end the fighting.
“The negotiation over some core issues made progress and we are working to conclude what remains soon,” a Hamas official said.
Talks in advanced stages
An Israeli official said negotiations were in advanced stages for the release of up to 33 of 98 hostages still in Gaza, in the first stage of the deal.
In return, Israel will free 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, according to the Palestinian source close to the talks who said the first phase would last for 60 days.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reporters: “There is progress, it looks much better than previously. I want to thank our American friends for the huge efforts they are investing to secure a hostage deal.”
Israel launched its assault in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across its borders in October 2023
Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of its population displaced.
On the ground, violence continued on Jan 14, with Palestinian medics reporting that at least 25 people were killed in Israeli strikes across the enclave.
The warring sides have broadly agreed for months on the principle of halting the fighting in return for the release of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian detainees held by Israel.
But Hamas has always insisted a deal must lead to a permanent end to the war and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel has said it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled.
Trump’s inauguration seen as deadline
Trump's Jan 20 inauguration is now widely seen as a de facto deadline for a ceasefire agreement.
Trump has said there would be “hell to pay”
Mr Blinken said negotiators wanted to make sure Trump would continue to back the deal on the table, so the attendance at the ceasefire talks of Trump’s Middle East envoy Mr Witkoff, along with Mr Biden’s envoy Mr McGurk, has been “critical”.
An Israeli official who briefed reporters on the proposed deal said its first stage would see 33 hostages set free, including children, women, female soldiers, men above 50, and the wounded and sick. There would also be a gradual, partial withdrawal of Israeli forces.
On the 16th day from the deal taking effect, negotiations would start on a second stage, during which the remaining living hostages – male soldiers and men of military age – would be released and the bodies of dead hostages returned.
The deal would see a phased troop withdrawal, with Israeli forces remaining in the border perimeter to defend Israeli border towns and villages.
In addition, there would be security arrangements in the Philadelphi corridor, along the southern edge of Gaza, with Israel withdrawing from parts of it after the first few days of the deal.
Unarmed North Gaza residents would be allowed back, with a mechanism to ensure no weapons are moved there. Israeli troops will withdraw from the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza.
The Israeli official said Palestinian militants convicted of murder or deadly attacks would also be released but numbers would depend on the number of live hostages, which was still unknown, and they would not include fighters who took part in the Oct 7, 2023, attack on Israel.
Israel’s Channel 12 said Israeli government institutions had been told to prepare for the intake of weak and sick hostages.
Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and his Religious Zionism party, a hardline nationalist party which has opposed previous attempts at a deal, said all its members would oppose a deal that did not achieve Hamas’ “destruction” and the latest proposal endangered Israel’s national security.
Bloodshed continued in Gaza on Jan 13.
Residents reported a series of explosions in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip that targeted homes and roads.
Palestinian health officials said at least 40 Palestinians were killed and dozens were wounded in Israeli military strikes in the Gaza Strip on Jan13.
The Israeli military said five soldiers had been killed in fighting in northern Gaza, bringing to nine the number of its troops killed since Jan 11. REUTERS
