Regarding hostage deal Hamas has not given an answer; Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson: ‘This is the closest point we have been to a deal over the past months’

Important Takeaways:

  • No final answer was given from Hamas regarding a hostage deal, an Israeli official told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.
  • Earlier, the Associated Press reported, citing two officials involved in the negotiations, that Hamas has agreed to the proposed ceasefire deal in Gaza and the release of numerous hostages.
  • According to the report, an Israeli official noted that while progress had been made, the final details were still under discussion.
  • “We have handed over drafts of the ceasefire agreement to both sides, and talks are now ongoing on the final detail,” the Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced on Tuesday.
  • “We have overcome the major differences. This is the closest point we have been to a deal over the past months,” the statement added.

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Some in Israel are wary of hostage deal and rightfully so: ‘Pressure Hamas, not Israel’

Netanyahu Hostage Deal CBN NEWS Screenshot

Important Takeaways:

  • Both the outgoing Biden administration and President-elect Trump’s people are pushing hard for a hostage deal and ceasefire agreement in Gaza. Many in Israel see reports about this possible deal as excruciating.
  • The ceasefire-hostage deal is still up in the air, but the U.S. is talking optimistically.
  • Media reports indicate 33 hostages would be released at the start of the deal, but Israel’s government is not sure how many of those will be live hostages.
  • The release of more would be negotiated in later stages. Israel appears ready to sign the deal, but whether Hamas will is unknown.
  • Some hostage families and their allies have marched in Jerusalem to protest any deal that doesn’t free all the hostages at once and in which Israel gives up hope of crushing Hamas in Gaza.
  • Protester Tamar Gesundheit appealed, “Please President Trump, do not pressure us to give into Hamas. Pressure them to give into us.”
  • Meanwhile, the fighting continues in Gaza, and the Houthis fired missiles at Israel again overnight.

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Hamas holding up hostage deal through unreasonable demands; Trump adds pressure by declaring red line “If they’re not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out…”

CBN SCREENSHOT-Trump and Steve Witkoff

Important Takeaways:

  • After all the talk about hostage talks over the past year, it appears that a deal may really happen before President-elect Donald Trump is inaugurated.
  • Trump is repeating for emphasis what he’s said will happen if Hamas doesn’t free all the hostages.
  • “If they’re not back by the time I get into office, all hell will break out in the Middle East and it will not be good for Hamas and it will not be good, frankly, for anyone. All hell will break out,” the president-elect said on a podcast Tuesday with conservative Hugh Hewitt.
  • Steve Witkoff, Middle East envoy in the next administration, remarked about Trump, “What he said, he expects. The red lines he’s put out there – that’s driving this negotiation.”
  • Trump expressed anger about how Hamas has treated the hostages.
  • “That beautiful girl where they (Hamas) threw her in the car, pulled her by her ponytail, and threw her in the car like she was a sack of potatoes,” he recalled. I said, what happened to her? So, she’s dead. Like a 19, 20-year-old beautiful girl.”
  • Trump added, “They should have never taken them. There should have never been the attack of October 7th.”
  • Witkoff’s taking part indirectly in the hostage talks in Doha, Qatar.
  • “I think that we’ve had some really great progress,” Witkoff stated. “And I’m really hopeful that by the inaugural we’ll have some good things to announce.”
  • Israel is taking part in the task force, and the only hold-up seems to be the unreasonable demands by Hamas.

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Netanyahu said “There’s not a deal in the making” in sharp rebuke to Biden administration

Netanyahu-talks-to-press

Important Takeaways:

  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday was as clear as he has ever been that he does not believe a ceasefire and hostage deal is likely in Gaza in a sharp rebuke to the Biden administration’s insistence it’s close at hand.
  • On Sunday, President Joe Biden claimed that the parties were on the verge of a deal, and on Wednesday, a senior administration official claimed 90% of the agreement had been completed.
  • “It’s exactly inaccurate. There’s a story, a narrative out there, that there’s a deal out there,” the Israeli Prime Minister said of the statement
  • US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby doubled down on those assessments in comments to the press Thursday, saying, “90% – verge of a deal. You call that optimistic, I call that accurate.”
  • “What Hamas has been demanding here, the Israelis have come forward to meet the terms as best they can,” the official said. “And Hamas, frankly, on this issue, we’ve had a pretty frustrating process.”
  • The official said Hamas’s recent killing of six hostages had “colored” the ongoing negotiations and thrown into question Hamas’s willingness to reach a deal.
  • Netanyahu has held two news conferences this week to argue that maintaining permanent control of the Philadelphi Corridor is vital to Israeli security.
  • On Thursday, Netanyahu claimed Hamas “don’t agree to anything. Not to the Philadelphi Corridor, not to the keys of exchanging hostages for jailed terrorists, not to anything. So that’s just a false narrative.”

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