The United States and Qatar said Tuesday that negotiations for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip were nearing agreement after months of stalemated talks, although details were still being worked on.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a Washington speech, "I believe we will get a ceasefire," but added that it was up to Hamas to give its final assent. "It's right on the brink. It's closer than it's ever been before."
Speaking at a weekly briefing, Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari described the ongoing talks as in the “final stages” and at the “closest point” yet to an agreement, while also cautioning against overexcitement until a deal is announced.
Qatar, Egypt and the United States have led a monthslong effort to try to achieve a halt in the fighting, with talks Tuesday in Doha focusing on the last details of a deal. Hamas said it was awaiting maps from Israel showing what parts of Gaza it would withdraw its troops from in the initial stages of the ceasefire.
Ceasefire would unfold in stages
President Joe Biden said Monday that the deal was on “the brink” of “finally coming to fruition.”
In a speech at the State Department to highlight his foreign policy achievements, Biden said 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."
The basic parameters of the ceasefire proposal would see the process play out in several stages.
Hamas would release hostages it has been holding since the militants carried out their October 2023 attack on Israel, while Israeli authorities would release Palestinian prisoners.
Israeli troops would carry out a phased withdrawal from Gaza, and some Palestinians displaced by the conflict would be allowed to return, along with a surge in aid for Palestinian civilians.
Months of negotiations have failed to bring a halt to the fighting, but in recent weeks, the effort has gained momentum at a time when the U.S. is preparing for President-elect Donald Trump to take office Jan. 20 as Biden’s four-year term ends.
Post-war Gaza governance
Blinken made a last-minute case Tuesday for a plan for the post-war reconstruction and governance of Gaza.
“We have a responsibility to ensure that the strategic gains of the last 15 months endure and lay the foundation for a better future,” Blinken told the Atlantic Council, a Washington-based think tank. “All too often in the Middle East, we’ve seen how the shoes of one dictator can be filled by another or give way to conflict and chaos.”
Blinken said the plan envisions the Palestinian Authority inviting “international partners” to create an interim governing authority to run critical services and oversee the territory. Other partners, notably Arab states, would provide forces to ensure security in the short term, he said.
That security mission would depend on a pathway to an independent Palestinian state unifying Gaza and the West Bank and would be tasked with creating “a secure environment for humanitarian and reconstruction efforts and ensuring border security,” Blinken said.
Creation of a Palestinian state, which Israel has refused to support, has been a sticking point in the negotiations.
Blinken told MSNBC on Monday that the sides were "closer than we've ever been" to a deal, but that the conclusion was up to Hamas.
Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, said Monday that Biden administration officials were keeping Trump’s Mideast advisers abreast of negotiations. Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, has been involved in the latest round of talks.
Israel launched its assault on Hamas in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed across its borders on Oct. 7, 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Since then, more than 46,500 people have been killed in Gaza, with most of them women and children, according to Palestinian health officials, although Israel says the death toll includes thousands of Hamas combatants it has killed.
Much of Gaza, a narrow strip of land along the Mediterranean Sea, has been laid to waste during the fighting and gripped by a humanitarian crisis, with most of its 2.3 million population displaced, often multiple times.
White House Bureau Chief Patsy Widakuswara contributed to this report. Some material came from The Associated Press, Agence France-Presse and Reuters.
