Progress has been made in the hostage release talks between Israel and Hamas

The Israeli-Israeli Interaction in the Post-Waile War: The Phenomenology of a resolution of the “arch-terrorist” conflict

One of the three officials and a Hamas official said that there were still a number of hurdles to clear. Over the course of the past year, US officials have claimed that they were close to reaching a deal, only to have it stall.

Asked about the talks at a press conference, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said “progress has been made, and I hope that within a short time we will see things happening. It is still to be proven.

But the sides have been divided over the details of the planned exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, as well as the nature of the ceasefire itself. Hamas has said that it won’t release the remaining captives without an end to the war, while Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the campaign until “total victory” over the militant group.

Biden’s outgoing ambassador to Israel, Jacob J. Lew, told NPR on Friday that the unpredictability of Trump, and concerns about what his administration would do if a deal is not reached, are driving the momentum.

Israel’s domestic politics is one of the main complicating factors. A key Netanyahu ally in the Israeli Cabinet, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, is publicly opposing the deal as a “catastrophe,” arguing against releasing “arch-terrorists” and saying Israel should instead “occupy and cleanse” the entire Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu is hoping that a Trump administration will convince his partners to stay in the government.

The head of Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence agency, David Barnea, and Biden’s top Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, were both in the Qatari capital, Doha. Barnea’s presence meant high-level Israeli officials who would need to sign off on any agreement are once again involved in the talks.

McGurk has been working on final details of a text to be presented to both sides, Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told CNN’s “State of the Union.” He would not predict whether a deal could be reached by the end of the month.

Gaza is a truce: Hamas’s enemy has no home, but is willing to follow a path ‘as soon as Israel’s

“We are very, very close,” he said. “Yet being very close still means we’re far, because until you actually get across the finish line, we’re not there.”

More than 46000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s campaign in the Gaza Strip, of which the majority are women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry. Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and abducted around 250 others in the attack that ignited the war.

The hostages that Hamas and Israel hold are just a small portion of the total. Hamas has taken nearly 100 hostages in Gaza, including the bodies of Israeli and U.S.-Israeli citizens. Israel is holding more than 10,000 Palestinian prisoners.

The Gaza Strip has been devastated by Israel’s campaign, which has driven around 99% of its 2.3 million people from their homes.

“We hear that there are talks but we don’t see anything,” said Mazen Hammad, a resident of the southern city. “When we see it on the ground, then we believe that there is a truce.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross president is visiting Israel and Gaza in anticipation of a new deal after the last hostage-prisoner exchange in November 2023.

Yet Israel has its own reasons to cooperate with Trump on expediting a deal: it wants his help pursuing diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia and his support for a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear program.

A Hamas official, who was not authorized to speak to the media, told NPR that Hamas is seeking to demonstrate flexibility by proposing several possible options to resolve each point of contention.

Hamas is expected to release a group of 33 Israeli captives, including people with illnesses, as well as women and older men who are dead. Israel requested their release.

The Fear of the unknown and the Trump-Born-Initio Negotiations for a Hostage Deal in the White House

Lew said there’s a fear of the unknown when it comes to what the new administration will do. In regards to wanting a hostage deal, the incoming administration wants the outgoing administration to make concessions that are appropriate to reach that, so there isn’t any daylight between them.

President-elect Trump has repeatedly warned that if the hostages captured from Israel by Hamas-led militants on Oct. 7, 2023, and held in Gaza aren’t released by his inauguration, there would be “hell to pay.”