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Israel, Hamas want hostage deal before Trump inaugurated: Report

Hamas has still not provided Israel with a list of living hostages, as reports indicate progress made in talks.

By World Israel News Staff

Israel and the Hamas terror group are aiming to secure a hostage and ceasefire deal before incoming president-elect Donald Trump takes office on January 20th, an Israeli official told Hebrew-language outlet Mako.

On Saturday, Trump’s envoy to the Middle East Steven Witkoff traveled to Israel from Doha, Qatar, where the ongoing talks are being held.

Witkoff met with Prime Minister Benjamín Netanyahu and other senior officials. According to a Mako report, Witkoff conveyed that Trump “wants to see a deal” before his inauguration.

A source involved in the Doha talks told Mako that “there is a desire on all sides to try and reach an agreement before January 20th.”

An Israeli delegation, including Mossad head David Barnea and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, departed for Doha, Qatar late Saturday evening, signaling that the negotiations may be reaching a critical stage.

“If there wasn’t real progress, Netanyahu wouldn’t have decided to send a delegation to Doha for the hostage deal talks,” an official told the Jerusalem Post.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum said in a media statement that they welcomed the decision to send the Israel delegation to Qatar.

“We call on the delegation: This is a historic opportunity to secure the release of all our loved ones,” the Forum said.

Notably, Hamas has still not provided Israel with a list of living hostages, which Jerusalem has maintained as a basic condition before negotiations can progress.

A rough outline of the potential deal, widely reported by international media, involves three stages focused on the Philadelphia Corridor.

In the first phase of the deal, Israel would pull back its troop presence along the corridor. In the second phase, the IDF will remain at a limited number of sites near the corridor. The third phase would see Israel completely withdraw from the Philadelphia corridor, despite previous insistence that such a condition is a non-starter.