Netanyahu, Smotrich, and Sullivan: State of the Union for a First Day after the 2023 Israeli-Hamas War

There were still a lot of obstacles to be cleared by one of the three officials and a Hamas official. On several occasions over the past year, U.S. officials have said that they were on the verge of reaching a deal, only to have the talks stall.

An Egyptian official said that there had been good progress overnight, but that it would likely take a few more days, and that the sides were aiming for a deal before Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20. A third official said that the talks were in a good state, but hadn’t wrapped up. That official also assessed that a deal was possible before the inauguration.

There are differing opinions over the nature of the ceasefire, as well as details of the planned swap of hostages for Palestinians held by Israel. Hamas has said they won’t release the remaining captives without an end to the war, while Netanyahu vowed to continue the campaign until total victory over the militant group.

The Biden administration, along with Egypt and Qatar, has spent more than a year trying to broker an agreement to end the deadliest war ever fought between Israelis and Palestinians and secure the release of scores of hostages captured in Hamas’ attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, which triggered the conflict.

One main complicating factor is Israel’s domestic politics. A key Netanyahu ally in the Israeli Cabinet, far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, is publicly opposing the deal as a “catastrophe,” arguing against releasing “arch-terrorists” and saying Israel should instead “occupy and cleanse” the entire Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu is hoping that the prospect of a Trump administration will persuade his partners to stay in the government.

David Barnea, head of Israel’s Mossad intelligence agency, and his counterpart at the Middle East branch of Biden’s office were both in the same place. Barnea’s presence meant high-level Israeli officials who would need to sign off on any agreement are once again involved in the talks.

Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, said on “State of the Union” that McGurk has been working on the final details of a text for both sides. But he said that he would not predict whether a deal can be reached by Jan. 20.

The Israel-Gaza War: Israel’s Promise to the Palestinians and the Hamas-Palestinian Constraints

“We are very, very close to each other,” he said. “Yet being very close still means we’re far, because until you actually get across the finish line, we’re not there.”

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, whose count doesn’t give a breakdown between fighters and civilians. Hamas-led militants killed about 1,200 people and abducted around 250 others in the attack that ignited the war.

Families of the hostages who are still held in Gaza are asking Netanyahu to reach a deal to bring them home. Israelis rallied again Saturday night in Tel Aviv, with photos of hostages on display.

In Gaza, Palestinians were tempering their hopes for a stop to Israel’s campaign, which has devastated much of the territory and driven around 90% of its 2.3 million people from their homes.

“We hear about negotiations every day, but we don’t see anything,” said the resident of Khan Younis. “When we see it on the ground, we believe that there is a truce.”

The International Committee of the Red Cross is in Israel and Gaza, waiting for a new hostage-prisoner exchange, after the last one took place in November of 1994.

Yet Israel has its own reasons to cooperate with Trump on expediting a deal: it wants his help pursuing diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia and his support for a possible attack on Iran’s nuclear program.

A Hamas official, who was not authorized to speak to the media, told NPR that Hamas is seeking to demonstrate flexibility by proposing several possible options to resolve each point of contention.

Qaddura Fares, who heads the main advocacy group in the West Bank for Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, toldNPR that Israel is discussing releasing three groups of prisoners.

What the future may tell us about the atomic heavy ion crisis and the fate of the hostage problem in the light of what Levy had to say

“I think there’s a certain fear of the unknown, in terms of what the new administration will do and will say,” Lew said. There is no daylight between the incoming administration and the outgoing administration in regards to wanting a hostage deal now and pressing all parties to make concessions that are appropriate to reach that.

If the hostages from Israel are not released by the inauguration, there would behell to pay.