The leader of Hamas said on Tuesday that a truce deal with Israel was close, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped for good news about the hostages soon, the most optimistic signal yet for a deal to pause fighting and release prisoners.
Hamas officials were “close to reaching a cease-fire agreement” with Israel and the group submitted its response to Qatari mediators, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a statement today.
Netanyahu said that they are making progress, but that it is not worth talking too much, even at this time, but that he hopes that there will be good news soon.
“Netanyahu will convene his War Cabinet ‘in light of the developments regarding the release of the hostages’,” his office said, followed by meetings of his wider security cabinet and full cabinet.
A source familiar with the negotiations told Reuters that the long-awaited agreement, which would have established the first truce of the war and the first mass release of those held by both sides, was in the “final stages” and “closer than it has ever been”.
This was echoed by a US official who said it was “the closest we’ve come” to a hostage deal.
The agreement, as described by the first source, envisages the release of about 50 civilian hostages by Hamas and imprisoned Palestinian women and minors from Israeli custody, as well as a several-day pause in the fighting.
Qatar hopes to announce a deal as early as today to release civilian hostages taken by Hamas in an Oct. 7 attack in exchange for a pause in fighting, according to a diplomatic source and another source familiar with the talks, CNN reported.
American officials familiar with the details of the negotiations emphasized that, although an agreement has not been reached, they are increasingly optimistic and believe that weeks of hard work will soon pay off with the release of the hostages.
“It’s very close,” a senior US official told CNN.
Two Israeli sources also said the deal could be announced as early as today. The release of the prisoners needs to be approved by the Israeli government, but that is not expected to be an obstacle, one source said.
The deal would reportedly require the release of 50 women and children hostages taken by the militant group during an October 7 attack on Israel, in exchange for a four- to five-day pause in fighting, and the release of three Palestinian prisoners for every Israeli civilian freed.
Under the deal, Hamas would also reportedly hand over any additional women and children taken hostage during the period the fighting was paused, something the group had previously insisted it could not do until a full ceasefire was in place.
The temporary ceasefire would potentially be extended further to free more hostages.
The hostages that will be released are of different nationalities, and one of them that the Americans hope will be the first to be released is the three-year-old American toddler Abigail Edan – the youngest American hostage whose parents were killed by Hamas, said a person familiar with the negotiations.
During the days when the fighting was paused, Israel would stop flying surveillance drones over northern Gaza for at least six hours each day.
According to CNN, diplomatic sources and US government officials, including President Joe Biden, have in recent days struck a more optimistic tone regarding the progress of negotiations.
However, it is pointed out that any agreement could be disrupted by developments on the ground in Gaza.
