WASHINGTON — As U.S. officials scramble to achieve a ceasefire and hostage agreement in Gaza before Biden leaves office on January 20, U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday, according to a person familiar with the situation.
According to the source, Biden and Netanyahu talked about ongoing attempts to come to an agreement to stop the violence in the Palestinian enclave and release the last 98 hostages detained there.
In a statement, Netanyahu gave Biden an update on the status of the situation and the directive he gave his top security delegation, which is currently in Doha, to move forward with a hostage agreement.
Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security advisor, stated earlier on Sunday on CNN’s State of the Union show that the sides were quite close to striking an agreement but still needed to complete it.
He claimed that Biden received daily briefings on the negotiations in Doha, where Palestinian and Israeli officials have claimed since Thursday that indirect negotiations between Israel and the militant organization Hamas have made some headway.
Sullivan stated, “We are not, by any means, putting this aside, and we are still committed to using every day we have in the office to get this done.”
He stated that an agreement may still be reached before Biden leaves office, but that it was still possible that Hamas, in particular, would continue to be uncooperative.
After Hamas militants broke through Gaza’s borders in October 2023, killing 1,200 Palestinians and capturing over 250 hostages, according to Israeli estimates, Israel began its attack.
According to Palestinian health officials, more than 46,000 people have died in Gaza since then, leaving the majority of its population evacuated and much of the territory in ruins and engulfed in a humanitarian crisis.
In an interview recorded on Saturday, vice president-elect JD Vance told the Fox News Sunday program that he anticipates an announcement regarding an agreement to free American captives in the Middle East in the last days of the Biden administration, possibly within the last day or two.
The president-electAs a fervent defender of Israel, Donald Trump has firmly supported Netanyahu’s objective of eliminating Hamas. Though he has not specified how he will do it, he has pledged to bring about peace in the Middle East.