From the Liveblog of
Sunday, January 12, 2025
Biden to discuss ongoing hostage talks with Netanyahu ‘in the near term’ — US national security adviser
Jacob Magid is The Times of Israel's US bureau chief
US President Joe Biden is slated to hold a call with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “in the near term” to discuss the ongoing hostage negotiations, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan tells CNN.
“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,” Sullivan says, largely echoing the optimism coupled with hedging that Biden and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken expressed in comments last week regarding the state of the talks.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday dispatched his most senior-level negotiators to Doha, in a sign that talks there were nearing a climax. However, a senior Arab diplomat familiar with the talks tells The Times of Israel that significant obstacles remain.
