Biden official: Hostage & ceasefire deal close, waiting for list of hostages from Hamas

Netanyahu will discuss the hostage deal with Biden in their Thursday meeting

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A senior U.S. official on Wednesday said that negotiations for a hostage release and ceasefire deal appear to be in their closing stages and U.S. President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will discuss remaining gaps during their meeting on Thursday.

“What I expect the conversation to be tomorrow is about these remaining gaps and kind of how we close them, and what the parameters are,” the official told the press.

The comments came in a phone briefing to members of the press ahead of Netanyahu’s meeting with Biden at the White House on Thursday.

The meeting between Biden and Netanyahu is the first since Biden visited Israel in October, days after the Hamas invasion on Oct. 7. Afterwards, the two leaders are scheduled to hold a meeting with hostage families.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official said, “We believe it’s in the closing stages, and a deal is closeable.”

The deal would see a six-week ceasefire in exchange for the release of women, elderly men and wounded hostages over a 42-day period. There would be another round of negotiations during the 42-day period regarding conditions for the second phase.

“There’s a deal ready to move ahead on phase one if we get the arrangements worked out,” the official said.

The official explained that there are still some things needed from both sides. He said the U.S. hopes to address those with Netanyahu in the visit.

“I don’t expect the meeting to be a yes or no,” the official said. “It’s kind of like, ‘How do we close these final gaps?’, and there are some things we need from the Israeli side, no question.”

“But there’s also some key things that are only in the hands of Hamas because the hostages are in the hands of Hamas,” he noted.

Negotiators are still waiting for Hamas to provide a list of which hostages will be freed and when, as well as how many Palestinian prisoners it is requesting from Israel 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 official explained.

“It’s a very different negotiation now than just a month ago when we had some fundamentally unbridgeable issues,” the official said, adding that several critical meetings regarding the Israeli hostages are expected to take place in the coming week.