Biden talks with Israel’s Netanyahu, urges “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza | Israel-Palestine conflict news

US President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about ongoing talks for a cease-fire in Gaza and stressed the “immediate need” for a truce, as well as the return of prisoners Israelis held in the Palestinian enclave.

Sunday’s call came as Biden pushes for a deal to end the fighting before President-elect Donald Trump returns to the White House on January 20.

The negotiations, mediated over the past year by the United States, Egypt and Qatar, were repeated in the moments that seemed close to an agreement. However, in recent days, US officials have expressed hope to seal an agreement.

The latest round takes place in the Qatari capital, Doha, with the head of Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence agency, David Barnea, as well as Biden’s top Middle East adviser, Brett McGurk, both attending the discussions

Barnea’s presence, confirmed by Netanyahu’s office, means that high-level Israeli officials who would need to sign off on any deal are now involved in the talks.

McGurk has been working on the final details of a text to be presented to both sides, Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told CNN’s “State of the Union.” But he said he does not predict whether an agreement can be reached on January 20, the day of the inauguration.

“We’re very, very close,” he said. “Yet being very close still means we are far because until we actually reach the finish line, we are not there.”

The White House said ongoing talks in Doha are for an agreement based on the phased ceasefire that Biden announced in May last year, which was later unanimously approved by the Council of Security of the United Nations.

Biden “emphasized the immediate need for a cease-fire in Gaza and the return of hostages with an increase in humanitarian aid made possible by a cessation of hostilities under the agreement,” the White House said.

For his part, Netanyahu thanked Biden for his lifelong support for Israel, according to the White House reading. The Israeli prime minister has already indicated that he is only committed to the first phase of the ceasefire agreement, which provides for the release of some prisoners in exchange for a weeks-long halt in the fighting.

Hamas, however, has insisted on a complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from the largely devastated territory, but Netanyahu remains intent on destroying the group’s ability to fight in Gaza.

Issues in the talks included which prisoners would be released in the first part of a phased ceasefire agreement, which Palestinian prisoners would be released and the extent of any withdrawal of Israeli troops from population centers in Gaza.

Al Jazeera’s Hamdah Salhut said the Israeli negotiating team in Qatar is expected to stay in the country for at least another day “to hammer out the final details for a potential deal.”

She noted that the Israelis and Hamas have exchanged blame for the delay in reaching an agreement, while there is disagreement between Netanyahu’s coalition on a ceasefire.

“Members of the far right said they voted against it and Netanyahu also spoke to members of the far right, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to try to warm to the idea of ​​a deal” , he said. “There is a school of thought in Israel that Netanyahu prolonged the war and did not agree to an agreement because he feared that it could lead to the collapse of his government. But in any case, these talks are still ongoing, since The mediators are working to reach an agreement.”

The talks come as Israel continues its relentless bombardment of the Gaza Strip, particularly the north of the enclave, which has been under a brutal siege for more than 100 days. Medical sources in Gaza say 5,000 people were killed or missing because of the ongoing attacks.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, the majority of them women and children, and displaced more than 90 percent of the territory’s population from their homes. The brutal war, which some UN experts describe as “genocide”, began in the wake of the Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which Palestinian fighters killed 1,200 people and they took another 250 prisoners.

Only a brief ceasefire was achieved in 15 months of war, in the first weeks of fighting.