Negotiators will meet in Doha on Tuesday to finalize details of a plan to end the war in Gaza. US President Joe Biden said a ceasefire and hostage release deal was on “the brink” of coming to fruition. An official briefed on the negotiations said that mediators gave Israel and Hamas a final draft of a deal on Monday, following a midnight “breakthrough” in talks attended by envoys of both the outgoing US president and President-elect Donald Trump.

The individual briefed on the talks, who asked not to be identified, said Qatar offered the proposal for a cease-fire and hostage release to both parties at talks in Doha that included the heads of Israel’s Mossad and Shin Bet espionage agencies, as well as Qatar’s prime minister. Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Biden’s envoy Brett McGurk are slated to attend Tuesday’s discussions in Doha, with Hamas negotiators nearby for fast contacts in an effort to secure a quick agreement. Officials from both sides and the US have indicated progress. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the sides were “closer than we’ve ever been” to reaching an agreement, and the ball was in Hamas’ court. Hamas said it. was keen on reaching a deal.

“The deal… would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security for Israel, and allow us to significantly increase humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who have suffered greatly in this war that Hamas started,” Biden said in a speech on Monday to showcase his foreign policy accomplishments. According to an Israeli official, negotiations for the release of up to 33 captives as part of the agreement were well underway. According to Israeli authorities, ninety-eight hostages remain in Gaza. The Hamas team in Doha issued a statement on Monday following a meeting with Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, stating that discussions were going well.

According to Israeli estimates, Israel initiated its offensive in Gaza after Hamas fighters invaded its borders in October 2023, killing 1200 Palestinians and seizing more than 250 captives. According to Palestinian health officials, more than 46,000 people have died in Gaza since then, with much of the territory destroyed and the majority of the population displaced. For months, the warring sides have essentially agreed to halt the combat in exchange for the release of Hamas hostages and Palestinian detainees held by Israel. However, Hamas has long maintained that a deal result in a permanent end to the war and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza, but Israel has stated that the war would not cease until Hamas is dismantled.

For more than a year, the United States, Qatar, and Egypt have been negotiating an end to the conflict. Trump’s January 20 inauguration is now commonly regarded as a de facto deadline. Trump has threatened “hell to pay” unless Hamas prisoners are released before he enters office, and Biden has also pressed hard for a solution before leaving.

Blinken stated that negotiators sought to ensure that Trump would continue to support the deal on the table, therefore Witkoff’s presence was “critical.” Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security advisor, told reporters on Monday that negotiations were at a “pivotal” juncture, with gaps between the two sides gradually closing. “I think there is a good chance we can close this … the parties are right on the cusp of being able to close this deal,” he told CNN. A Hamas spokesman told Reuters that there had been some movement on several core issues, “and we are working to conclude what remains soon.” Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told reporters, “There is development, and it looks lot better than before. I’d like to congratulate our American friends for their tremendous efforts they are investing in hostage deal

In Cairo, an Egyptian security official told Reuters that the text provided to the two warring groups did not include the final deal, but “aims to resolve outstanding issues that had hampered previous negotiations.”

An Israeli official briefed media on the potential deal claimed the first stage would release 33 captives, including youngsters, women, including female soldiers, individuals over the age of 50, and the wounded and sick. On the 16th day after the arrangement went into force, negotiations would begin on a second stage in which the remaining living hostages – male troops and men of military age – would be released and the corpses of dead hostages returned. The agreement calls for a phased troop withdrawal, with Israeli forces remaining on the border to defend Israeli towns and villages. In addition, security arrangements would be made in the Philadelphi corridor, along the southern edge of Gaza, with Israel withdrawing from parts of it within the first few days of the deal

Residents of North Gaza who are unarmed would be allowed to return, with a procedure in place to ensure no weapons are moved there. Israeli forces will withdraw from the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza. The Israeli official stated that Palestinian militants convicted of murder or deadly attacks would be released as well, although the number of living hostages was unclear, and fighters involved in the October 7, 2023 attack on Israel would be excluded. According to Israel’s Channel 12, Israeli government institutions have been instructed to prepare for the entry of weak and sick hostages. Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and his Religious Zionism party, a conservative nationalist party that has resisted past attempts at a compromise, announced all of its members will oppose a deal that didn’t achieve Hamas’ “destruction” and the latest proposal endangered

On Monday, the bloodshed in Gaza resumed. Residents of Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, reported a series of explosions targeting homes and roadways. Palestinian health officials reported that Israeli military strikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least 40 Palestinians and injured dozens more on Monday. The Israeli military reported that five soldiers were killed in battle in northern Gaza, raising the total number of Israeli personnel killed to nine since Saturday.