Mediators were making a final push Wednesday to seal a Gaza truce and hostage release deal, after a Qatari official involved in the talks expressed hope an agreement could be reached “very soon”.
US President Joe Biden and his Egyptian counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said in a phone call Tuesday that both sides needed to show “flexibility” to get a deal over the line, according to a statement from Sisi’s office.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu went into a meeting with top security officials late Tuesday to discuss the deal, his office said, while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the “ball is now in Hamas’s court”.
“If Hamas accepts, the deal is ready to be concluded and implemented,” he said.
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said Tuesday that negotiations were in their “final stages” and mediators were hopeful they would lead “very soon to an agreement”.
However, he cautioned that “until there is an announcement… we shouldn’t be over-excited”.
