What were the main obstacles to a cease-fire agreement in Gaza and the release of the Israeli hostages?

After a midnight “breakdown” in negotiations, mediator Qatar gave Israel and Hamas a draft on Monday ceasefire agreement to end the war in Gaza, the Reuters news agency said, citing an official familiar with the talks.

The official told Reuters the talks were attended by the heads of Israel’s Shin Bet and Mossad spy agencies, the man who will become the US envoy when President-elect Trump takes office next week , Steve Witkoff, and the prime minister of Qatar. Reuters also reported that Biden administration officials believed they were involved.

“The next 24 hours will be crucial to reach the agreement,” the official told Reuters.

“We’re not there yet, but there is potential for real progress,” an official close to the talks told CBS News.

What happened to the Israel-Hamas ceasefire talks?

Israel and Hamas have been holding indirect talks for more than a year aimed at ending war in Gaza and return dozens of militant hostages in exchange for Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

On Sunday, President Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu by phone about the ongoing negotiations. The White House said the two leaders discussed the deal based on the agreement outlined by Mr. Biden last year. The Biden administration has been pushing for a deal before Trump’s inauguration on January 20.

But despite intense mediation by the United States, Qatar and Egypt, talks have repeatedly stalled on several key issues including the details of the exchange, whether the ceasefire would be permanent and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

As each side accused the other of backing down, war ensued.

Dozens of Palestinians are killed every day in Israeli attacks, and most of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are hiding in squalid tent camps, their neighborhoods in ruins. Aid groups are struggling to provide desperately needed aid, and experts have warned of famine.

In Israel, the families of the hostages have held weekly demonstrations demanding an agreement for their release, fearing that their loved ones will die in the harsh conditions of their captivity, the more the fight is tough.

What are the main points of contention in the arrival of a cease-fire agreement?

Hamas and other groups are still holding about 100 hostages captured in the October 7, 2023 attack in southern Israel that ignited the war, in which the militants killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians , and kidnapped about 250. The Israeli army claimed a third. of dead hostages, but he suspects the real number could be around half.

Hamas is demanding the release of a large number of Palestinian prisoners, including former militants convicted of orchestrating attacks that killed civilians. Israel is reluctant to release such prisoners, especially since one of the masterminds of the 2023 attack, slain Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, was a former prisoner released in such a deal.

The two sides exchanged lists of names, with Israel asking for more information on which hostages are alive to ensure they get out first. Hamas says it needs at least a short truce to determine the status of the hostages because they are being held by different groups in scattered and secret locations.

The emerging business requires a multi-phase plan. In the first stage, Hamas would release the most vulnerable hostages and Israeli forces would withdraw from some areas, allowing some Palestinians to return to their homes and an increase in humanitarian aid.

In the second step – which would be negotiated during the first – the rest of the living hostages would be released in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Hamas has said it will not release the remaining hostages without assurances that the war will end. Israel’s offensive has killed more than 46,000 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to local health authorities, who did not say how many of the dead were militants.

Hamas probably fears that Israel will resume its offensive – and increase its intensity – once the hostages are out and the militants no longer have their most valuable bargaining chip.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to do just that. He says that Israel will not end the war until it has destroyed the military and government capabilities of Hamas and ensured that the Palestinian militant group is no longer a threat.

The lack of trust goes both ways: Israelis fear that Hamas will drag out negotiations on the second phase, extending the ceasefire indefinitely while the hostages languish.

The talks almost collapsed due to disagreements

Talks nearly collapsed last summer when Netanyahu said Israel would maintain a lasting presence in the Philadelphia Corridor, a strip of land along the Gaza-Egypt border.

Israel says Hamas has long smuggled weapons into Gaza through tunnels under the corridor and that it must control the area to prevent Hamas from rebuilding. Egypt, a key mediator, says it blocked the tunnels years ago and opposes any Israeli presence on the Gaza side of its border.

Israel also called for a mechanism to inspect people returning to their homes in northern Gaza, from which about a million people fled after Israeli evacuation orders at the start of the war. Their return is a key demand of Hamas, the details of which are still being worked out.

Israel says people returning to the north should be searched for weapons. This would require an Israeli presence in what is known as the Netzarim corridor, a strip of closed roads and military installations that stretches from the border to the sea just south of Gaza City.

The Palestinians oppose any permanent Israeli occupation, although Hamas has shown flexibility on the timetable for Israeli withdrawal.

Israel says Hamas can never rule Gaza again, but has yet to approve a realistic plan for an alternative government. With no internal rivals, Hamas was able to quickly regroup after Israeli operations, even in the most affected areas, and still controls much of the territory.

The Biden administration has long pushed for a grand deal in which a reformed Palestinian Authority would rule post-war Gaza with the support of Arab and Muslim countries, including Saudi Arabia, which has also taken the historic step of forcing ties with Israel.

But Arab and Muslim leaders say they will only sign off on such plans if they include a path to a Palestinian state in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Israel-annexed Gaza, territories Israel captured in the Middle East war of 1967

The government of Israel opposes Palestinian status and has rejected any role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza. Netanyahu says Israel will maintain an open security check while delegating governance to the politically independent Palestinians. But no one seems to be willing, and Hamas has threatened anyone who cooperates with Israel in managing the territory.

Hamas has said, however, that it is willing to cede control of Gaza to other Palestinians. At the end of last year, he agreed to a plan mediated by the Egyptian for a group of independents to govern the territory under the auspices of the Palestinian Authority, which has not yet accepted the proposal.

Hamas has also called for the lifting of a blockade imposed by Israel and Egypt after taking power in 2007, which experts say is necessary for the reconstruction of Gaza.

Lifting the blockade, however, would allow Hamas to claim a major victory and eventually rebuild its military capabilities. It’s another non-starter for Israel.