Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu decided to send a negotiating team to discuss a hostage release agreement with Hamas.
U.S. President Joe Biden welcomed the development, a day after Hamas responded to the Gaza ceasefire plan he outlined in late May. The last indirect talks were held in Cairo earlier this month.
Details of Hamas’ latest response have not been made public, but a Palestinian official told the BBC that the group stopped calling for a comprehensive ceasefire at the outset of Biden’s plan.
A senior U.S. government official said Hamas had agreed to “pretty significant adjustments” to its stance.
“We have achieved a breakthrough in a key impasse,” the U.S. official said, though he stressed “that does not mean the deal will be completed in a matter of days.”
President Joe Biden and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had a phone call Thursday that focused on hostage and ceasefire negotiations, the official said.
On Wednesday, Hamas’s political leadership said it had contacted mediators in Egypt and Qatar to discuss ideas it had been discussing with the aim of reaching a deal.
Hamas has so far been demanding an end to the war and a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza. Israel says it will only accept a temporary moratorium in fighting until Hamas is eliminated.
When President Biden announced the plan on May 31, he said the plan was based on more detailed Israeli proposals and was divided into three phases.
The first plan includes a six-week “general and complete ceasefire”, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from densely populated areas of Gaza, and the exchange of some hostages, including women, the elderly and the sick and wounded, for Palestinian prisoners being held.
The second phase will involve the release of all other living hostages and “a permanent end to hostilities”. The third phase is to launch a major reconstruction project in Gaza and return the remains of the hostages.
After a phone call between the two leaders on Thursday, the Israeli government said in a statement: “Prime Minister Netanyahu informed President Biden of his decision to send a delegation to continue hostage negotiations and reaffirmed the principles of Israel’s commitment, in particular is its promise to end the war only after all objectives have been achieved.
Mr. Netanyahu has declared that his goals are to return all remaining hostages, destroy Hamas’s military and governance capabilities and ensure that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel.
The White House said Biden “welcomes the prime minister’s decision to authorize his negotiators to engage with mediators from the United States, Qatar and Egypt in an effort to complete a deal”.
Meanwhile, a source in the Israeli negotiating team told Reuters that Hamas’s response included “a very significant breakthrough” and “reached an agreement that has a real chance of being implemented.”
Earlier on Thursday, a senior Palestinian official told the BBC that Hamas had abandoned its demand for a comprehensive ceasefire. The official said the new conditions involve the withdrawal of Israeli troops from a strip of southern Gaza bordering Egypt, known as the Philadelphia Corridor, and from the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt.
The source was informed of Hamas’ submission to the mediators, adding that the atmosphere was positive. “We will soon have a new round of negotiations,” the source said.
The United States accuses Hamas of obstructing the ceasefire process.
On Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the group was an “exception” to international support for ceasefire proposals. He said Hamas “created a gap in not agreeing to a proposal that everyone, including Israelis, agreed to.”
Prime Minister Netanyahu said he was “committed to the Israeli proposals welcomed by President Biden,” although he has yet to publicly endorse the platform.
The war was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented attack on Israel on October 7, in which Hamas-led gunmen killed about 1,200 people and took another 251 back to Gaza as hostages.
The Israeli offensive has killed at least 38,010 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Gaza health ministry, which is run by Hamas.
Hamas and its allied armed groups are still believed to be holding the 116 hostages taken on October 7. Israeli authorities speculate that at least 42 people died.
Others have been released, rescued or had their bodies found.
Four other Israelis have been held hostage since 2014 and 2015, two of whom are presumed dead.
Additional reporting by Rushdie Aboualuf in Istanbul
