Israel and Hamas are nearing a cease-fire agreement, Qatar says

Israel and Hamas appeared to be close to an agreement to declare a ceasefire in Gaza and release hostages held there after more than 15 months of war, Qatar’s government said on Tuesday.

Mediators had “managed to minimize a lot of the differences between both parties,” Majed al-Ansari, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman, told reporters. The talks on Tuesday were focused on “the final details of reaching an agreement,” he said.

The talks, brokered by Qatar, Egypt and the United States, come after months of failed attempts to achieve a breakthrough. In recent weeks, officials familiar with the negotiations have expressed growing hope that a deal was possible, spurred by a looming deadline: the end of President Biden’s term and the inauguration of President-elect Donald J. Trump on the 20th. January.

Mr. Trump has warned that there would be “HELL TO PAY” unless the hostages were freed when he became president. Officials in the Biden administration had pushed for a deal that would become part of the outgoing president’s legacy.

If Hamas and Israel strike a deal, it will provide respite for Palestinians in Gaza, who have endured squalid conditions in displacement camps and relentless Israeli bombardment, and for the families of hostages abducted from Israel, who have been worried for more than a year. about the fate of their loved ones. A diplomat said the talks on Tuesday focused on resolving outstanding issues, while a Palestinian in contact with Hamas officials said they would focus on details of how to strike a deal. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.

The new deal, the diplomat said, was heavily inspired by earlier proposals discussed in May and July.

Mediators and officials have repeatedly warned that even significant progress could be halted at the last minute. Israel and Hamas have held several rounds of negotiations over the past several months, each of which broke down in mutual recriminations.

“We believe we are in the final stages, but until we have an announcement – there will be no announcement,” Mr. al-Ansari, adding that there was no immediate timeline for the signing of the agreement.

For over a year, international efforts have failed to end the war in Gaza, which was ignited by the Hamas-led attack in October 2023 that killed around 1,200 people and saw 250 taken hostage to Gaza, according to Israeli authorities. Israel launched a military campaign against Hamas that devastated large swaths of the enclave and killed at least 45,000 people, according to Gaza health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and combatants.

The office of Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, confirmed that the delicate negotiations were continuing on Tuesday, but declined to comment further.

Israeli officials told reporters on Monday night that they believed they were close to reaching an agreement. This optimism was echoed by Mr. Biden in a speech in which he declared that the ceasefire and the hostage agreement were on the “brink” of “finally coming to fruition.”

William J. Burns, the CIA director, and Brett McGurk, a senior White House official, have been crisscrossing the Middle East pushing for a breakthrough in the talks. Steve Witkoff, Mr. Trump’s pick for Middle East envoy has also made trips to Qatar and Israel and met with top officials there.