A draft deal for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages has been agreed in principle and, if all goes well, will be finalized by Israel and Hamas this week, Arab, U.S. officials said and Israelis at CBS News.
If the final details are approved and the Israeli government also votes to approve it soon after, implementation of the deal could begin this weekend, U.S. and regional sources said. This means that President Biden has long sought ceasefire agreement could meet in the final days of his presidency, and new President-elect Donald Trump would oversee its implementation.
Sources told CBS News that the parties have begun drafting public declarations of success and that hopes are high on all sides.
Reach a ceasefire agreement and release of hostages
In Doha, negotiations have been underway for several weeks and continued on Tuesday.
Mr. Biden’s top Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, has been in the region for nearly a month working to close the deal, in regular coordination with Steve Witkoff, who was chosen by Trump to be special envoy to the Middle East.
Witkoff was in Israel this weekend to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Qatari prime minister is expected to meet Mossad Director David Barnea on Tuesday to help finalize the details of the deal.
While the Biden administration is developing a detailed plan for the so-called “day after” Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, its implementation and enforcement would be left to the Trump administration. Privately, U.S. officials acknowledge that this governance plan is ambitious and that it would be up to the Trump team to help shape the future of the Palestinian Gaza Strip and put pressure on the Netanyahu government and Hamas to They adhere to the later phases of the agreement.
“I think the pressure is building for Hamas to agree, and I think Israel has also achieved a lot of its military objectives in Gaza, and therefore they are in a position to be able to say ‘yes’,” he said. he declared. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan told reporters.
Sullivan said Israel and Hamas had been close to an agreement before and things had broken down, but on Monday there was a “general feeling that this is moving in the right direction.”
“The question now is: Can we all collectively rise to the occasion and make this happen?” Sullivan said.
“We are at an advanced stage of negotiations,” an Israeli political source told CBS News, saying a deal could be reached within hours or days. “There is progress in all components of the agreement formula.”
What would the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas look like?
On Sunday, President Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the phone about ongoing negotiations. The White House said the two leaders discussed the deal based on the arrangement Mr. Biden outlined last year.
The agreement presented to Israel and Hamas appears similar to that arrangement, according to a copy of the deal from mediator sources viewed by CBS News and a senior Israeli official.
The deal consists of three phases, according to the copy viewed by CBS News, each to be negotiated as things progress.
During the first phase, which would take place over a 42-day ceasefire period, Hamas would release 33 female and child hostages, as well as hostages over the age of 50. For every woman or child hostage returned to Israel, Israel would release 30 Palestinian women and children from its prisons. Hamas would release all hostages over the age of 50 and Israel would release 30 Palestinian prisoners aged 50 or over.
On the first day of this ceasefire, Hamas would release three hostages, according to the document seen by CBS News. On the seventh day, Hamas would release four hostages. Thereafter, Hamas would release 3 hostages taken in Israel every seven days, starting with the living, then returning the bodies of those who died.
During the exchange of hostages and prisoners, there would be a complete ceasefire in Gaza to allow the entry of aid, says the draft seen by CBS News. International humanitarian groups and the United Nations would resume operations in Gaza and rebuilding of its infrastructure, such as water, electricity and sewage systems, would begin. There would also be negotiations on the next phase of the deal.
The second phase of the deal would involve the release of all male Israeli hostages and the withdrawal of the Israeli military from Gaza, according to the document seen by CBS News.
The third phase, which would be partially negotiated in previous phases, would include the exchange of bodies of deceased hostages and prisoners, the start of the reconstruction of Gaza and the opening of its borders.
Despite intense mediation by the United States, Qatar and Egypt, negotiations have repeatedly stalled over issues such as the details of hostage and prisoner exchanges, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the question of whether the ceasefire would be permanent.
Hamas and other groups in Gaza are still holding captive around 100 hostages kidnapped during the attack on October 7, 2023. The militants killed around 1,200 people in that attack and kidnapped 250.
More than 46,000 Palestinians in Gaza were killed by Israel in response to the October 7 attack, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, and the majority of Gaza’s 2.3 residents were displaced. Aid groups have struggled to deliver aid and experts have warned of famine.
Marwan Al-Ghoul, Michal Ben-Gal and Mais Al-Bayaa contributed to this report.
