We are on brink of a Gaza peace deal between Israel and Hamas, says Biden

Joe Biden says a Gaza peace deal is “on the brink” of coming to fruition.

In his final foreign policy address before he leaves office next week, the US president said the agreement between Israel and Hamas will secure the release of hostages and achieve a ceasefire.

“In the war between Israel and Hamas, we’re on the brink of a proposal that I laid out in detail months ago finally coming to fruition,” Mr Biden said.

He insisted that his administration was working urgently to close the deal.

Israel’s Channel 12 news station has broadcast details of the agreement’s first phase, which would last 42 days and see 33 hostages “alive and dead” exchanged for jailed “terrorists with blood on their hands”.

It said this would free all female soldiers, women, living men over the age of 50 and sick men under 50.

Hamas has previously demanded that Israel withdraws from Gaza before any of the 96 remaining hostages are released, which Israel has said was unacceptable.

But now Israel has agreed to withdraw from the strip once all the hostages are released.

An Israeli official told The Telegraph the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) would remain in Gaza until the last hostage is freed.

This would be the first time it has made such a commitment to pull out of the strip.

The source added that Israel was waiting for Hamas officials in Gaza to approve the deal.

Meanwhile, London-based Qatari news outlet Al-Quds Al-Arabi reported that Israel has sought a 1.5km buffer zone along the Gaza border under Israeli control as a condition of pulling out.

Israel also needs to know how many hostages on its list are alive, while Hamas is bartering over the number of prisoners it will get back.

Qatari mediators handed both sides a final draft yesterday after a midnight “breakthrough” in Doha.

Israeli sources said they have broadly accepted the terms, as have Hamas leaders abroad with an official involved saying “the direction is positive”.

Now “everything’ depends on the terror group’s de facto leader in Gaza, Muhammad Sinwar, who took control after his brother, Yahya, was killed last year.

But Muhammad is seen as even more hardline than his sibling, a mastermind of the October 7 atrocity that started the war in 2023.

Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also faces challenges from far-Right coalition allies who have threatened to collapse the government if he makes peace.

A US official said: “The next 24 hours will be pivotal to reaching the deal.”

Donald Trump’s incoming US envoy, Steve Witkoff, attended the talks, as did Mr Biden’s outgoing counterpart, Brett McGurk.