US Secretary of State and a Hamas spokesman both say a hostage deal is not far off, even as they signal agreement may not be reached before Trump’s inauguration this month.
By World Israel News Staff
Israel and Hamas are close to reaching a breakthrough in hostage deal and ceasefire talks in Doha, Qatar, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and a Hamas spokesperson both claimed Wednesday, even as they acknowledged a deal may not be struck before President Joe Biden leaves office on January 20.
Speaking at a press conference in Paris on Wednesday alongside his French counterpart, Foreign Affairs Minister Jean-Noel Barrot, Blinken said that the brokers were “very close” to achieving an agreement between the two sides.
While a deal may not be reached by January 20, the incoming Trump administration will be left well-positioned to complete the talks, he argued, crediting Biden’s proposal for a three-phase deal.
“I hope that we can get it over the line in the time that we have left, but if we don’t, then the plan that President Biden put forward for a ceasefire-hostage deal will be handed over to the incoming administration, and I believe that when we get that deal — and we’ll get it — it’ll be based on the plan that President Biden put before the world back in May.”
Blinken expressed hope that the administration’s work to prepare postwar arrangements for the governance of the Gaza Strip will be adopted by the Trump White House.
“There too, we’re ready to hand that over to the administration so it can work on it and run with it when the opportunity is there,” he said.
The Biden administration has pushed for the transfer of Israeli control over the postwar Gaza Strip to a reformed Palestinian Authority, preventing Hamas from reasserting itself in the coastal enclave while removing the need for long-term Israeli civil control of Gaza – a key condition for bringing Saudi Arabia into the Abraham Accords.
Also on Wednesday, Hamas spokesman Taher al-Nunu spoke with Saudi Arabia’s Al-Resalah television network, claiming that the terror group is “not far from an agreement” – assuming Israel “responds positively” to Hamas’s demands.
On Tuesday, Hamas politburo member Osama Hamdan told reporters at a press conference in Algeria that the terror group would not agree to any deal with Israel that does not include a full withdrawal of the IDF From the Gaza Strip and a full and permanent end to the war.