President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are in talks to reach a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal by 20 January, when Biden’s term ends.
Biden’s team are reported to be coordinating closely with president-elect Trump’s team to make a deal.
“We are very very close [to a Gaza deal] and yet far because we are not there. It is possible to get it done before January 20—but I can’t be sure,” White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union.
President Biden has stressed the need for an immediate end to hostilities and a return of Israeli hostages taken by Hamas since the outbreak of renewed hostilities on 7 October 2023.
Biden’s most senior Middle East advisor Brett McGurk has been in Doha negotiating terms for the past week. He has been joined in recent days by Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff, who visited Netanyahu in Israel on Saturday before returning to Doha. Israeli representatives, including the directors of Mossad, Shin Bet and the IDF, have also been present in Doha.