Israel-Hamas war – latest: Progress made in talks over Gaza ceasefire deal ahead of ‘pivotal 24 hours’
A peace deal between Israel and Hamas after more than a year of all-out war is “on the brink … of finally coming to fruition”, US president Joe Biden has said.
In a rare State Department speech, the outgoing US president said: “We’re on the brink of the proposal that I laid out in detail months ago, finally coming to fruition.”
The United States, Qatar and Egypt have worked for more than a year on talks to end the war in Gaza, so far fruitlessly. But on Monday mediators presented the final draft of a peace deal to Israel and Hamas after a midnight breakthrough in talks
Officials said Qatar had handed both sides a text for a ceasefire and the release of hostages during talks in the capital, Doha. Both Israel and Hamas later said the draft had made significant “progress”.
Steve Witkoff, the incoming US envoy to the Middle East for Donald Trump, reportedly attended the talks, as did the outgoing Biden administration’s envoy Brett McGurk.
Discussing the possible peace deal in his speech, Mr Biden said he had “learned from many years of public service to never, never, never, ever give up”.
