A draft deal for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release has been agreed in principle and, if all goes well, Israel and Hamas will conclude this week, Arab, US and Israelis on 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, US and regional sources said. This means that President Biden has been looking for a long time ceasefire agreement could meet in the final days of his presidency, and new President-elect Donald Trump would oversee its implementation.
Sources tell CBS News that the parties have begun drafting public statements of success and hopes are high on all sides.
Achieving a ceasefire and a hostage release agreement
In Doha, talks have been underway for the past few weeks and continued on Tuesday.
Biden’s top Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, has been in the region for the better part of a month working to close the deal, coordinating regularly with Steve Witkoff, who has been tapped by Trump to be special envoy for the Middle East.
Witkoff was in Israel over the weekend to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Qatar’s prime minister will meet with Mossad director David Barnea on Tuesday to help hammer out the details of the deal.
Although the Biden administration has been drafting a detailed plan for the so-called “Day After” of Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, its implementation and enforcement would be up to the Trump administration. Privately, US officials acknowledge that this government plan is aspirational, and it is up to the Trump team to help shape the future of Palestinian Gaza and pressure the Netanyahu government and Hamas to adhere to the subsequent phases of the agreement.
“I think the pressure is building for Hamas to say yes, and I think Israel has also achieved a lot of their military objectives in Gaza, so they’re in a position to say yes.” National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan told reporters.
Sullivan said Israel and Hamas had been close to a deal before and things had broken down, but there was a “general sense on Monday that this is moving in the right direction.”
“The question now is, can we collectively seize the moment and make this happen?” Sullivan said.
“We are in the advanced stages of negotiations,” an Israeli political source told CBS News, saying a deal could be reached within hours or days. “There is progress on all components of the formula of the agreement.”
What would the cease-fire agreement between Israel and Hamas look like?
on Sunday, President Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone about the ongoing negotiations. The White House said the two leaders discussed the deal based on the deal outlined by Mr Biden last year.
The agreement presented to Israel and Hamas appears similar to that agreement, according to a copy of the agreement from mediating sources seen by CBS News and a senior Israeli official.
The deal consists of three phases, according to the copy seen by CBS News, each to be negotiated as things move forward.
During the first phase, which would take place during a 42-day ceasefire period, Hamas would release 33 women and children 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 over the age of 50.
On the first day of this ceasefire, Hamas would release 3 hostages, according to the document seen by CBS News. On the seventh day, Hamas would release 4 hostages. Afterwards, Hamas would release 3 hostages taken from Israel every seven days, starting with the living and then returning the bodies of the dead.
During the hostage and prisoner swap, there would be a complete ceasefire in Gaza to allow aid to flow in, according to the draft seen by CBS News. International aid groups and the United Nations would resume operations in Gaza and reconstruction of its infrastructure, such as water, electricity and sewage systems, would begin. There would also be negotiations for the next phase of the deal.
The second phase of the deal would involve the release of all Israeli hostages and the withdrawal of the IDF from Gaza, according to the document seen by CBS News.
The third phase, which would be partially negotiated during the previous phases, would include the exchange of bodies of hostages and dead prisoners, the beginning of the reconstruction of Gaza and the opening of its borders.
Despite intense mediation by the United States, Qatar and Egypt, the talks have repeatedly stalled over issues such as the details of hostage and prisoner exchanges, the withdrawal of Israeli forces and whether the ceasefire would be permanent.
Hamas and other groups in Gaza are still holding about 100 hostages kidnapped during the attack on October 7, 2023. The militants killed about 1,200 people in that attack and kidnapped 250.
More than 46,000 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by Israel in its response to the October 7 attack, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, and most of Gaza’s 2.3 people have been displaced. Humanitarian 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.
