On January 12th, officials met and made significant progress in a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas as well as the release of hostages that are being held in the Gaza Strip. Officials said that a deal has yet to be made as of December 13th.

Three officials who wished to stay anonymous said that they have been making progress and that the days following will be the most important for ending the more than 15 month long war. One of the three officials as well as a Hamas official said that there were still multiple challenges to face.

In an article published by AP news they stated “On several occasions over the past year, U.S. officials have said that they were on the verge of reaching a deal, only to have the talks stall”(Eastwood, Magdy, Federmen, Jan 13).

One person who was familiar with the talks said that a deal was proposed. Israeli and Hamas officials will take it to their leaders for a final approval. They said that the country of Qatar had put pressure on Hamas to sign the agreement and president-elect Donald Trump’s envoy, Steve Witkoff, has been pressuring Israel to do the same (AP news, Jan 13).

U.S. Deputy National Security Adviser, Jon Finer told CNN that “Fundamentally, we believe there is progress being made. There is a deal on the table that Hamas should accept” (Salman, Khadder, Lillieholm, Shwartz, Kent, Jan 13).

Israeli foreign minister Gideon Saar said that Israel wants a hostage deal and is working with America to get one (CNN, Jan 13).