After more than 15 months of fighting in their most devastating war ever, Israel and Hamas are extremely close to agreeing to a ceasefire, according to officials involved in the talks.
Majed Al Ansari, an adviser to the Qatari prime minister and Foreign Ministry spokesperson, told reporters in Doha, where the talks are being conducted, that an agreement was "not far away." He added that the main obstacles have been overcome and the talks now are "about the final details."
He declined to give details of the impending agreement. But an Israeli official, who spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks, outlined some of the key provisions.
The agreement under discussion envisions a six-week pause in the fighting, during which 33 Israeli hostages held by Hamas and other militants in Gaza will be released, in exchange for a far greater number of Palestinian detainees, according to a formula that gives more weight to hostages who are released alive. The total number of Palestinians released from Israeli custody is expected to be around 1,000, according to a Palestinian official, who was not authorized to speak to the media.
Israel describes the hostages to be released as humanitarian cases, and the Israeli official said they comprise women, people over the age of 50, children and the injured and ailing.
The impending deal comes after weeks of a number of intensive rounds of negotiations in Doha between Israel and Hamas. Representatives from both sides were in different rooms, as mediators from the U.S., Egypt and Qatar passed along messages.
Envoys from both President Biden's administration and President-elect Trump's team were also there, pressuring the sides to close a deal. Anticipation grew last weekend after Steve Witkoff, Trump's envoy to the Middle East, traveled to Qatar and an Israeli delegation including Mossad intelligence chief David Barnea and Ronen Bar, director of the Shin Bet internal security agency, arrived and joined the talks.
The aim of the negotiators was to have a signed deal or a pathway toward a ceasefire deal signed by Inauguration Day, Jan. 20.
Even after the deal is signed, it would need to be approved by the Israeli full Cabinet and government, and it is likely to be challenged before the Israeli Supreme Court. So it may be days before the terms are implemented.
But the first exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees is expected to take place immediately after implementation begins, perhaps even on the same day. The two sides are also talking about arrangements to allow displaced Palestinians in the south of Gaza to return to their homes in the north.
A further round of negotiations will begin 16 days into that first phase of the agreement, about further withdrawals of Israeli troops from Gaza, although the Israeli official said a full withdrawal would not happen until all hostages are fully released.
Large sections of the public in both Israel and Gaza are exhausted by the conflict and will welcome an agreement that promises a definitive end. However, some conservative members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government have already expressed opposition to the deal on the grounds that Hamas should be completely eradicated to prevent a repeat of the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, in which Hamas fighters and other militants killed around 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages.
Around 100 hostages were released in a similar deal between Israel and Hamas in late 2023, while others were rescued or found dead. Around 240 Palestinians were released from Israeli jails as part of that deal.
Many families of the remaining hostages who are not slated for release in the first phase worry that pressure to release their relatives will wane. They have been lobbying for a comprehensive agreement that ends the war and secures the release of all hostages.
The renewed energy at the talks coincides with a surge in fighting on the ground. Since Saturday, at least 79 Palestinians have been killed, according to Gazan health authorities, while the Israeli military reported nine soldiers killed.
Those casualties bring the total death toll during the war to more than 46,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's health authorities, who have not specified how many of them were combatants. They have however noted that the majority of the verified dead have been women and children. The Israeli military says 405 soldiers have been killed in fighting since it invaded Gaza in the wake of the Oct. 7 rampage.
Israel and Hamas have fought a number of wars since the Palestinian militant organization wrested control of the Gaza Strip from the Palestinian Authority in 2007. However none of the previous conflicts have been nearly this long or this deadly.
Copyright 2025 NPR
