Biden says cease-fire, hostage release deal 'in sight,' sends Blinken to Israel

Secretary of State Antony Blinken will head to Israel on Saturday to boost efforts to reach a cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas. President Joe Biden said Friday afternoon he directed a U.S. negotiating team in Doha to put forward a bridging proposal offering a "basis for coming to a final agreement on a ceasefire and hostage release deal."

As two days of talks wrapped up in Qatar, the State Department said Friday that Blinken would travel to the Middle East to “continue intensive diplomatic efforts” to finalize a U.S. proposal bridging the remaining gaps between both sides.

President Biden said in a statement later on Friday, "Our teams will remain on the ground to continue technical work over the coming days, and senior officials will convene again in Cairo before the end of the week. They will report to me regularly."

The president said a cease-fire and hostage release deal was "now in sight," and said "no one in the region should take actions to undermine this process."

The State Department said the agreement would be for "for a ceasefire and release of hostages and detainees through the bridging proposal presented today by the United States, with support from Egypt and Qatar."

RELATED STORY | More than 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, the territory’s Health Ministry says

The statement said, "This proposal would achieve a ceasefire in Gaza, secure the release of all hostages, ensure humanitarian assistance is distributed throughout Gaza, and create the conditions for broader regional stability."

A statement from the mediators — Qatar, the United States and Egypt — said teams will keep working in the coming days on how to implement specific measures.

Earlier, U.S. President Joe Biden seemed optimistic, saying, “We are closer than we’ve ever been” to an agreement but noting “we’re not there yet.”

This will be Blinken’s ninth trip to the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war began in October, with his last being in June.

RELATED STORY | Israeli airstrike on Gaza shelter leaves around 100 dead, officials in Gaza say

Earlier on Friday the White House said President Biden spoke with Amir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani of Qatar — and in another meeting, spoke with President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi of Egypt — saying the conversations were "to review the significant progress made in Doha over two days of talks on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal."

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office after two days of talks wrapped up in Doha with an agreement to continue negotiations next week, President Biden had said “I don’t want to jinx anything” but that a cease-fire was “much, much closer than it was three days ago.”