Official: Hamas and Israel reached the final draft of the truce agreement in Gaza after a “breakthrough” in the talks

Mediators handed Israel and Hamas a final draft of an agreement to end the war in Gaza on Monday, an official familiar with the negotiations said, after a midnight “breakthrough” in talks attended by envoys of both US President Joe Biden and President-elect Donald Trump. Trump.

The official said that Qatar presented the text of a ceasefire and hostage release to both sides during talks in Doha that included the heads of the Israeli Mossad and Shin Bet agencies and the Qatari Prime Minister.

The official said that Steve Witkoff, who will become a US envoy when Trump returns to the US presidency next week, attended the talks. An American source said that the envoy of the outgoing Biden administration, Brett McGurk, was also present.

“The next 24 hours will be pivotal to reaching the agreement,” the official said, describing the draft as a result of the breakthrough reached in the early hours of Monday.

Israeli Kan radio, citing an Israeli official, reported on Monday that the delegations of Israel and Hamas in Qatar had received a draft and that the Israeli delegation had briefed Israeli leaders on the matter. Israel, Hamas, and the Qatari Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for confirmation or comment.

Although officials from both sides did not confirm that a final draft had been reached, they described progress made in the talks.

A senior Israeli official said the agreement could be reached within a few days if Hamas responds to the proposal. A Palestinian official close to the talks said that the information coming from Doha is “very promising,” adding that “the gaps are narrowing and there is a great push toward reaching an agreement if things go well until the end.”

The United States, Qatar, and Egypt have been working for more than a year to hold talks to end the war in Gaza.

Trump’s deadline is approaching

For months, the two sides have broadly agreed on the principle of stopping the fighting in exchange for the release of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian detainees held by Israel. However, Hamas has always insisted that the deal must lead to a permanent end to the war and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel has said it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled.

Trump’s inauguration on January 20 is now widely viewed in the region as a de facto deadline. The president-elect said there would be “hell to pay” unless hostages held by Hamas were released before he took office, while outgoing President Biden pushed hard for a deal before he left.

The official said the talks continued into the early hours of Monday, with Vitkov pushing the Israeli delegation to Doha and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani pressuring Hamas officials to finalize an agreement.

The official said that the head of Egyptian General Intelligence, Hassan Mahmoud Rashad, was also in the Qatari capital as part of the talks.

Trump envoy Witkoff has traveled to Qatar and Israel several times since late November. He was in Doha on Friday and traveled to Israel to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday before returning to Doha.

The White House said that Biden also spoke by phone on Sunday with Netanyahu, stressing “the immediate need for a ceasefire in Gaza and the return of the hostages, along with increased humanitarian aid provided by the cessation of fighting under the agreement.”

5 people were killed in an Israeli raid on a school shelter

Bloodshed continued in Gaza on Monday, as Israeli military raids killed at least 21 people, medics said. Among them were five who were killed in an Israeli raid on a school in Gaza City housing displaced families.

Israel launched its attack on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed its border in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostage, according to Israeli statistics.

Since then, more than 46,000 people have been killed in Gaza, according to Palestinian health officials, with much of the enclave destroyed and most of its residents displaced.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, an ultra-nationalist who has opposed previous attempts to reach an agreement, denounced the latest proposals as “surrender” and “a disaster for the national security of the State of Israel.”

Over the past few months, fighting has particularly intensified along the northern end of Gaza, where Israel says it is trying to prevent Hamas from regrouping, and the Palestinians accuse Israel of seeking to permanently evacuate the buffer zone.

Abu Ubaida, spokesman for Hamas’s military wing, said that the movement’s fighters attacked Israeli forces in the area, killing at least 10 soldiers and wounding dozens of others during the past 72 hours. On Saturday, Israel confirmed the killing of four soldiers.