By Andrea Shalal
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Joe Biden spoke on Sunday with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a supply accustomed to the matter mentioned, as U.S. officers race to achieve a Gaza hostage and ceasefire deal earlier than Biden leaves workplace on Jan. 20.
Biden and Netanyahu mentioned efforts below technique to attain a deal to halt the preventing within the Palestinian enclave and free the remaining 98 hostages held there, the supply mentioned.
Biden’s nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan advised CNN’s “State of the Union” program earlier on Sunday that the events have been “very, very close” to reaching a deal, however nonetheless needed to get it throughout the end line.
He mentioned Biden was getting day by day updates on the talks in Doha, the place Israeli and Palestinian officers have mentioned since Thursday that some progress has been made within the oblique talks between Israel and militant group Hamas.
“We are still determined to use every day we have in office to get this done,” Sullivan mentioned, “and we are not, by any stretch of imagination, setting this aside.”
He mentioned there was nonetheless an opportunity to achieve an settlement earlier than Biden leaves workplace, however that it was additionally doable “Hamas, in particular, remains intransigent.”
Israel launched its assault in Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed throughout its borders in October 2023, killing 1,200 folks and taking greater than 250 hostages, in keeping with Israeli tallies.
Since then, greater than 46,000 folks have been killed in Gaza, in keeping with Palestinian well being officers, with a lot of the enclave laid to waste and gripped by a humanitarian disaster, and most of its inhabitants displaced.
Vice President-elect JD Vance advised the “Fox News Sunday” program in an interview taped on Saturday that he expects a deal for the discharge of U.S. hostages within the Center East to be introduced within the ultimate days of the Biden administration, perhaps within the final day or two.
President-elect Donald Trump, a staunch supporter of Israel, has strongly backed Netanyahu’s objective of destroying Hamas. Hehas promised to carry peace to the Center East, however has not saidhow he would accomplish that.
