The inside story of how the Israel-Hamas ceasefire was struck

The Israeli and Hamas negotiators by no means got here head to head – however by the top, only one flooring separated them.

Ceasefire talks by way of middlemen from Qatar, Egypt and the US had been dragging on for a number of months, at occasions with out hope. Now the important thing gamers have been all inside one constructing in Doha and the tempo was frantic.

A deal was shut however issues had gone unsuitable earlier than: one supply described a last-minute push to cease the settlement breaking down whereas a podium was being arrange so the Qatari prime minister may announce it.

“Actually, negotiations have been up till 10 minutes earlier than the press convention. In order that’s how issues have been stitched up on the final minute,” the supply accustomed to the talks mentioned.

The PJ has spoken to a variety of officers on all sides of the negotiations to piece collectively how the ultimate fraught days of the secretive course of unfolded.

The deal didn’t come out of the blue.

The general framework of the settlement reached on 15 January was broadly the identical because the proposal set out by President Joe Biden throughout a White Home handle final Might. It makes use of the identical three-phase strategy and can see a ceasefire, Israeli hostages launched in return for Palestinian prisoners, and the Israeli navy’s gradual withdrawal from Gaza.

However sources accustomed to the discussions agreed the dynamics of the talks shifted decisively in mid-December and the tempo modified.

Hamas, already reeling from Israel’s killing of its leader Yahya Sinwar in Gaza two months earlier, had turn into more and more remoted. Its Lebanon-based ally Hezbollah had been decimated and had agreed to a truce with Israel. Bashar al-Assad’s Iran-backed authorities in Syria had additionally been swept away.

The view in Washington is that Hamas was pressured to desert the concept that “the cavalry was coming to reserve it”, as one US official put it.

“It’s exhausting to overstate how essentially the equation modified and what that [did] for Hamas’s calculus,” says a senior Biden administration official accustomed to the talks.

An Israeli official who wished to stay nameless mentioned Hamas was “not in a rush” to strike a deal and had been “dictating” relatively than negotiating. They mentioned that modified after the loss of life of Sinwar and Israeli operations in opposition to Hamas’s allies within the area.

On high of that, the official mentioned, there was “momentum created by each US administrations” – the Biden White Home and the incoming Trump workforce.

“We couldn’t obtain a deal like this till situations had modified,” the official added.

On 12 December, Biden’s negotiating workforce visited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. White Home nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan, Center East envoy Brett McGurk and CIA director Invoice Burns have been all in attendance.

A US official, who spoke on the situation of anonymity, mentioned the assembly lasted “a number of hours” and centered on the “new regional equation” and “how we catapult from the Lebanon ceasefire into one other spherical of intensive discussions” on Gaza.

There was additionally one other piece on the chessboard by this stage: Donald Trump.

On 16 December, weeks after Trump’s victory, the PJ spoke to a Hamas official who was unusually optimistic concerning the ceasefire efforts, suggesting they appeared to be extra critical.

The official – who had taken half in each set of talks since November 2023 – appeared reassured by the truth that an adviser to the incoming US president had despatched a message to mediators indicating Trump needed an settlement earlier than his inauguration.

Trump had additionally warned of “all hell to pay” if Hamas didn’t conform to launch the hostages – however the Palestinian official was bullish.

“This time, the strain is not going to be restricted to Hamas, as was customary underneath the Biden administration,” the official mentioned. “There may even be strain on Netanyahu. He’s the one obstructing the deal, and Trump appears to grasp that very effectively.”

Nonetheless, that very same official’s prediction {that a} deal could possibly be completed by Christmas proved to be optimistic.

Throughout December, the method remained beset by issues. Israel publicly dominated out releasing sure high-profile prisoners, whereas the White Home accused Hamas of throwing up roadblocks over the hostage releases.

A Biden administration official mentioned: “Hamas [was] refusing to agree – and this was a breakdown at that time – to the checklist of hostages that may be launched in part one of many deal.

“That is simply so basic. This can be a hostage launch deal. Except you conform to the checklist of hostages who will come out, there’s not going to be a deal.”

The identical official mentioned Hamas made “fully unfaithful” claims about not realizing the placement of the hostages, and added: “We held the road and principally left the desk till Hamas agreed to the hostage checklist.”

An nameless Israeli official mentioned Hamas had sought to hide the variety of residing hostages and “tried to dictate that they might ship us solely useless our bodies”.

For its half, Hamas claimed Israel unexpectedly added 11 names to the checklist of hostages it needed to be launched within the first part. Hamas thought of them reserve troopers, and due to this fact not eligible to be launched alongside the ladies, injured and aged hostages resulting from be launched in part one.

The door was left open to Qatari and Egyptian mediators to proceed their efforts and on 3 January, there was an obvious breakthrough when Hamas proposed the discharge of 110 Palestinian prisoners serving life sentences in return.

There have been by now well-established phrases of reference for such trades. For every hostage Hamas was to launch, Israel must present what had turn into recognized within the nomenclature of the draft deal as a “key” – that means an agreed quantity and even particular identities of Palestinian prisoners.

A US official mentioned: “There’s an equation for what number of Palestinian prisoners come out. So for feminine troopers, for instance, there is a key. And for aged males, there is a key. And for girls civilians, there is a key. And this has all been labored out and the prisoners have been named, tons of and tons of of prisoners on the checklist.”

The change file within the negotiations – Palestinian prisoners for hostages held by Hamas – grew to become often called “the keys”.

Throughout this part of the talks, Hamas additionally relented on two long-standing calls for: the whole withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza within the first part and a proper Israeli dedication to a complete ceasefire.

Sensing a breakthrough, the Egyptian mediator urgently dispatched Main Common Ahmed Abdel Khaleq – who oversees the Palestinian portfolio in Egyptian intelligence – to Doha. After assembly with Hamas representatives, he secured affirmation the group would make what a senior Hamas official described as “painful concessions.”

However on 6 January, in keeping with a Palestinian official, Israel rejected the supply put ahead by Hamas on the 11 hostages. Hamas responded by sending the PJ and different media retailers a listing that includes the names and ages of 34 Israeli hostages. Two days later, the physique of a kind of on that checklist – Yosef AlZayadni – was discovered inside Gaza.

The checklist included reserve troopers, which indicated Hamas was prepared to launch them within the first part.

This gave the impression to be an try to embarrass Netanyahu and rally hostage households in Israel and world wide to strain him into accepting the deal.

It was additionally a sign Hamas had not walked away.

Conferences stretching into the small hours of Doha’s scorching evenings grew to become frequent in the course of the ultimate stretch of the negotiations.

Within the final month, that they had developed into so-called “proximity talks”, with either side in the identical two-storey constructing, in keeping with a number of accounts from officers accustomed to the small print.

A senior US official mentioned Hamas’s delegation was on the primary flooring and Israel’s on the ground above. Mediators ran items of paper between them. Maps of Israeli troop withdrawal proposals and particulars about hostages or prisoners drafted for launch have been shuttled forwards and backwards.

“That takes an unlimited quantity of labor and, I’ve to say, all of that was not absolutely nailed down, actually, till simply the [final] hours,” mentioned the official.

Contained in the constructing, the delegations met individually with senior figures from Qatar and Egypt. Amongst these carefully concerned within the particulars was Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.

Two essential areas have been labored on within the ultimate phases of the talks: the lists for launch of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, and the positions for Israeli troop withdrawals from populated areas in Gaza throughout part one.

By 9 January, the strain had escalated. Trump’s envoy, Biden’s envoy, and the Egyptian intelligence chief convened in Doha for a critical eight-hour negotiation session.

A senior Egyptian official advised the PJ: “We’re on the closest level to reaching an settlement.”

Settlement had been reached on 90% of the excellent points, however additional talks have been required.

Steve Witkoff, Trump’s not too long ago appointed Center East envoy, was dispatched to Tel Aviv to fulfill Netanyahu. Although not but formally in publish, the New York property tycoon had turn into an increasing number of concerned within the talks, which Trump was taking a eager curiosity in.

He was about to be despatched on an project that proved to be pivotal.

When Trump’s man within the Center East arrived in Israel on 11 January, it was the sabbath.

Witkoff was requested to attend till the sabbath had ended earlier than he met Netanyahu however, in a breach of customized, the envoy refused and demanded to fulfill the prime minister instantly.

Netanyahu seems to have come underneath critical strong-arming in the course of the assembly and the intervention from the Trump camp to get the Israeli authorities to put aside its ultimate reservations appears to have been essential.

The assembly was reportedly fractious and the message to Netanyahu from the incoming president was clear: Trump needs a deal – now get it completed.

Commenting on these talks, an Israeli official who requested to stay nameless mentioned it was a “crucial assembly”.

When Witkoff returned to Doha, he remained within the room with the talks, spending time with Biden’s envoy Mr McGurk, in what two US officers referred to as a “close to unprecedented” transition effort in American diplomacy.

This week, Hamas official Bassem Naim advised Al Arabiya he “could not think about that [the deal] could possibly be doable with out the strain of the incoming administration led by President Trump” – and particularly cited Witkoff’s presence on the talks.

By now, the very fact a deal could possibly be imminent was out within the open and public expectation was constructing – not least among the many households of these being held hostage and Palestinians displaced inside Gaza.

The ultimate 72 hours of talks concerned a continuing forwards and backwards over the finer factors of how the deal could be applied, in keeping with one account.

One supply near the negotiations described the hammering out of “preparations and logistics” for the way the hostages could be launched in Gaza and for the withdrawal actions of Israeli troops.

On 12 January, a senior Palestinian official accustomed to the negotiations mentioned “all of the officers are right here in the identical constructing”, including: “Tonight is decisive. We’re just a few steps away from an settlement.”

That assembly lasted six hours – however, like so many occasions earlier than, an deadlock was reached.

This time the disagreement that arose was over the mechanism for the return of displaced people from southern Gaza to the north.

Israel needed to go looking returnees and their automobiles to make sure no militants or navy gear have been being transported – which Hamas refused to simply accept.

Mediators proposed that Qatari and Egyptian technical groups conduct the searches as an alternative. Each side agreed and one of many ultimate remaining stalemates was resolved.

On 15 January shortly after 18:00, a Hamas negotiator wrote in a message to the PJ: “The whole lot is completed.”

The rostrum was being readied.

A deal which as soon as appeared unattainable had taken form.

Further reporting by Sean Seddon