Qatar’s Foreign Ministry says Israel and Hamas are closer to reaching a ceasefire and hostage deal in Gaza than at any time in the past. For the first time, delegations from Israel and Hamas are in the same building in Doha for negotiations, but they are not holding direct talks. Envoys of both President Biden and President-elect Trump are in Doha, as well. On Monday, Biden spoke about the ceasefire talks in the final foreign policy speech of his presidency.
President Joe Biden: “On the war between Israel and Hamas, we’re on the brink of a proposal that I laid out in detail months ago finally coming to fruition.”
Just last week, Biden notified Congress of a new $8 billion arms sale to Israel. In Israel, two far-right members of Benjamin Netanyahu’s government — National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich — have spoken out against a possible hostage deal, with Ben-Gvir threatening to quit if a deal is reached.
Meanwhile, Israel is continuing its assault on Gaza. Earlier today, an Israeli airstrike hit a home east of Khan Younis, killing at least nine Palestinians, including women and children. Alaa Al-Qadi lost his brother in the attack.
Alaa Al-Qadi: “As you may know, he was a displaced — we were displaced from Rafah, and he was staying with his in-laws. He was martyred along with his relatives, his brothers in-law, wife and his 20-days-old newborn baby. Just today we were scheduled to visit my father. … We were saying, 'Thank God, there will be a ceasefire, and we will all go back to Rafah.' But my brother was not destined to return.”