Biden talks to Netanyahu, urges ‘immediate ceasefire’ in Gaza
The US president has spoken to the Israeli leader about the ongoing talks for a ceasefire in Gaza and stressed the “immediate need” for it, as well as the return of Israeli captives held in the Palestinian enclave.
The call came as Biden has been pushing for a deal to stop the fighting before Trump returns to the White House on January 20.
Gaza ceasefire details ‘can be finalised within days’, says Israeli official: Report
An Israeli official said this morning an “outline of the deal is clear” and that they are awaiting Hamas’s response, Israeli outlet Channel 13 reports. “If it responds soon, the details can be finalised within days,” the official said, according to the report.
The official said Israel “has come a long way” in the talks being held in Qatar. Three other sources familiar with the details of the negotiations were quoted by Channel 13 as saying “the coming days are critical.”
Meanwhile, the Israeli army’s radio, quoting a source involved in the negotiations, reported “cautious progress” in the ceasefire talks. The source added that Israel is now “waiting for Hamas’s response”.
Hamas ‘very close to an agreement’ with Israel while key sticking points remain, official says
https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/13/middleeast/israel-hamas-deal-talks-intl/index.html
Hamas is “very close to an agreement” with Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza and the exchange of hostages for Palestinian prisoners, according to an official from the militant group, as the Israeli government also announced progress in the negotiations.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Monday that Israel is working hard to reach a deal in the ongoing negotiations being hosted in the Qatari capital of Doha, and that “progress was made.”
“Israel wants a hostage deal. Israel is working with our American friends in order to achieve a hostage deal, and soon we will know whether the other side wants the same thing,” Saar said in a news conference in Jerusalem.
Several sticking points remain, however, the Hamas official told CNN.
They include Hamas’ demands that Israel withdraw from the Philadelphi corridor, a narrow strip of land along the Egypt-Gaza border, and commit to a permanent ceasefire rather than a temporary halt to the military operations launched in the wake of the Hamas October 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.
Disagreement also remains over an Israeli-proposed buffer zone inside Gaza to run along the strip’s eastern and northern borders with Israel. The official said that Hamas wants the buffer zone to return to the pre-October 7 size of 300-500 meters (330-545 yards) from the border line, while Israel is requesting a much larger 2,000-meter depth.
“We believe this means that 60 km (37 miles) of the Gaza Strip will remain under their control, and displaced people will not return to their homes,” the official said.
Beyond those key demands, the Hamas official said that negotiators were hammering out specific details of the release of Palestinian prisoners and maps covering the areas from which Israeli forces would withdraw.
Qadura Fares, the head of the Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees, told CNN separately on Monday that he is traveling to Doha to advise negotiators on the list of detainees to be released “in the event the deal materializes.”
The optimistic tone was tempered though by Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said Monday that the potential ceasefire-hostage deal would be a “catastrophe” for Israel’s national security. In a post on X, Smotrich described it as a “surrender deal” that would include releasing “terrorists” and “dissolving” the war’s achievements.
While true, CNN is writing it as if Hames is the sticking point. These are all things they already agreed upon back in May.
https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/details-of-the-ceasefire-deal-that-hamas-has-accepted/
It's Netanyahu that keeps adding conditions like the Philadelphi corridor, Netzarim corridor, 2km buffer zones, permanent military presence/access, right to come back at any time, no right for people to return.
Seeing how the 'ceasefire' in Lebanon is going it's not surprising Hamas is sticking to the original May deal. Netanyahu at most wants a one sided ceasefire with the freedom to continue 'operations' in Gaza like the IDF is doing in Southern Lebanon.
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