US official says hostage deal close, but some issues remain

WASHINGTON — Negotiations on a ceasefire and hostages deal in the Gaza conflict appear to be in their closing stages and US President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will discuss remaining gaps on Thursday, a senior US official says.

The official says the remaining obstacles are bridgeable but a deal is close in which a six-week ceasefire would take place in exchange for the release of women, elderly men and wounded hostages over a 42-day period.

“There’s a deal ready to move ahead on phase one if we get the arrangements worked out,” the official says during a phone briefing with reporters.

Among the remaining issues are the requirement for Hamas to provide a list of who it will free and when, and how many inmates it wants released from Israeli prison in exchange.

“We need some things from Hamas, including the hostages who are going to come out. We’re not going to do a deal until we know exactly the hostages who are coming out and the schedule that they’re coming out,” the senior administration official explains.

This was a sticking point raised by Israel months ago but has more recently been absent from public comments and leaks regarding the state of the negotiations.

“It’s a very different negotiation now than just a month ago when we had some fundamentally unbridgeable issues,” the official says.

The official clarifies that tomorrow’s meetings won’t be about getting Netanyahu to sign onto a finalized deal.

“I don’t expect the meeting to be a yes or no,” he says, adding that it will instead be aimed at closing gaps in the talks.

The official notes that there will be subsequent critical in-person meetings between stakeholders in Washington over the coming week.