Hostage talks advanced after ‘tense’ meet between Netanyahu and Trump envoy, officials tell ToI

US President-elect Donald Trump’s Mideast envoy Steve Witkoff held a “tense” meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Saturday during which the former leaned hard on the Israeli premier to accept compromises necessary to secure a hostage deal by the January 20 US presidential inauguration, two officials familiar with the matter tell The Times of Israel.

Witkoff’s pressure on Netanyahu appears to have had an effect, with the two officials familiar with the negotiations saying that key gaps were closed during the talks over the weekend.

Spokespeople for Witkoff and Netanyahu did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the matter.

While the prime minister had been pushing for weeks for a temporary ceasefire that only related to the first phase of the three-stage proposal Israel submitted last May, the agreement that is being finalized is increasingly closer to the original offer, with clauses connecting the first phase with the two others, making it harder for Israel to resume fighting once the initial stage goes into place, one of the officials says.

Haaretz reports that Israel will also agree to fully withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor during the first phase — a claim that contrasts with a briefing earlier today by Israeli officials, who said Israel would not leave the corridor in the first or second phases of the deal. Over the summer, Netanyahu characterized continued Israeli control over the border strip between Egypt and Gaza as critical for Israel’s very survival, insisting that the IDF remain there indefinitely.

He added conditions regarding continued Israeli presence there to the original Israeli proposal, which significantly hampered negotiations in July, Arab and Israeli officials told The Times of Israel at the time.