Gaza: Ceasefire 'close' as US, Egyptian leaders emphasise 'coming hours'

Negotiators were near to hammering out the final details of a ceasefire in Gaza on Wednesday after marathon talks in Qatar, and the US and Egyptian leaders promised to stay in close contact about a deal over the coming hours.

More than eight hours of talks in Doha had fuelled optimism. Officials from mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US as well as Israel and Hamas said an agreement for a truce in the besieged enclave and release of captives and detainees was closer than ever.

Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari earlier told a news conference that both sides were presented with a text and talks on the last details were under way.

But a senior Hamas official told Reuters late on Tuesday that the Palestinian group had not delivered its response yet because it was still waiting for Israel to submit maps showing how its forces would withdraw from Gaza.

US President Joe Biden, whose administration has been taking part alongside an envoy of President-elect Donald Trump, said a deal was close.

Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi talked about progress in the negotiations on Tuesday.

"Both leaders committed to remain in close coordination directly and through their teams over the coming hours," the White House said in a statement after the leaders' telephone call.

The two presidents "emphasized the urgent need for a deal to be implemented."

Hamas said the talks had reached the final steps and it hoped this round of negotiations would lead to a deal.

An Israeli official said talks had reached a critical phase although some details needed to be worked out: "We are close, we are not there yet."

Visiting Rome, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on Tuesday he believed a majority of Israel's coalition government would support a Gaza deal if one is finally agreed, despite vocal opposition from hardline nationalist parties in the coalition.

Militant group Islamic Jihad, which is separate from Hamas and also holds captives in Gaza, said it was sending a senior delegation that would arrive in Doha on Tuesday night to take part in final arrangements for a ceasefire deal.

If successful, the phased ceasefire - capping over a year of start-and-stop talks - could halt Israel's brutal assault that decimated Gaza, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, made most of the enclave's population homeless and is still killing dozens a day.

That in turn could ease tensions across the wider Middle East, where the war has fuelled conflict in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and raised fears of all-out war between Israel and Iran.

Israel would recover around 100 remaining captives and bodies from among those captured on 7 October, and in return would release Palestinian detainees.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who gave a speech in Washington outlining a vision for governing the Palestinian territories after the war, said it was up to Hamas to accept a deal that was already set for implementation.

Blinken was heckled during the speech by protesters who accused him of complicity in Israel's actions.

"Secretary Blinken. Your legacy will be genocide. You will forever be known as bloody Blinken, secretary of genocide. You have the blood of hundreds of thousands of innocent people on your hands," protesters were heard saying.

The secretary of state replied: “Thank you, I respect your views, please allow me to share mine.”

A source familiar with the negotiations told The New Arab's Arabic-language sister site, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, that Hamas had agreed to the draft agreement.

Israel's latest war on Gaza has killed at least 46,000 Palestinians since October 2023, according to Palestinian health officials.

Trump's 20 January inauguration is now widely seen as a de facto deadline for a ceasefire agreement.