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Gali the mother of the Israeli soldier Sergeant Yahav Maayan who was killed in combat in the Gaza Strip, reacts next to his son's grave during his funeral at a military cemetery in Modiin, Israel, Sunday, Jan. 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)
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Biden, Netanyahu discuss latest in effort to reach an Israel-Hamas war ceasefire

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By WAFAA SHURAFA and NATALIE MELZER

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. President Joe Biden spoke Sunday about efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the Israel-Hamas war, a sign of the intensifying push to reach a deal before Donald Trump’s inauguration next week.

Talks mediated over the past year by the United States, Egypt and Qatar have repeatedly stalled at moments when they seemed close to a deal. Still, in recent days, U.S. officials have expressed hope of sealing an agreement.

Sunday’s call between Biden and Netanyahu came as the head of Israel’s Mossad foreign intelligence agency, David Barnea, and Biden’s top Mideast adviser, Brett McGurk, were both in the Qatari capital Doha. Barnea’s presence, confirmed by Netanyahu’s office, meant high-level Israeli officials who would need to sign off on any agreement are now involved in talks.

McGurk has been working on final details of a text to be presented to both sides, Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told CNN’s “State of the Union.” But he said he would not predict whether a deal can be reached by Jan. 20, the day of the inauguration.

“We are very, very close,” he said. “Yet being very close still means we’re far because until you actually get across the finish line, we’re not there.”

The White House and Netanyahu’s office both confirmed the phone call between the two leaders without providing details.

Just one brief ceasefire has been achieved in 15 months of war, and that was in the earliest weeks of fighting. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said this week a deal is “very close” and he hoped to complete it before handing over diplomacy to the incoming Trump administration.

Under discussion now is a phased ceasefire, with Netanyahu signaling he is committed only to the first phase, a partial hostage release in exchange for a weekslong halt in fighting.

Hamas has insisted on a full Israeli troop withdrawal from the largely devastated territory, but Netanyahu has insisted on destroying Hamas’ ability to fight in Gaza.

Issues in the talks have included which hostages would be released in the first part of a phased ceasefire deal, which Palestinian prisoners would be released and the extent of any Israeli troop withdrawal from population centers in Gaza.

Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, whose count does not give a breakdown between fighters and civilians. Israel’s campaign was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, in which militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted around 250 others.

Families of the roughly 100 hostages still held in Gaza are pressing Netanyahu to reach a deal to bring their loved ones home. Israelis rallied again Saturday night in the city of Tel Aviv, with photos of hostages on display.

In Gaza, Palestinians were tempering their hopes for a stop to Israel’s campaign, which has devastated much of the territory and driven more than 80% of its 2.3 million people from their homes.

“We hear that there are negotiations every day, but we see nothing,” said Mazen Hammad, a resident of the southern city of Khan Younis. “When we see it on the ground, then we believe that there is a truce.”

© Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.

©2025 GPlusMedia Inc.


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McGurk has been working on final details of a text to be presented to both sides, Biden’s national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, told CNN’s “State of the Union.” But he said he would not predict whether a deal can be reached by Jan. 20, the day of the inauguration.

It would be nice if some deal were made before Joe is out of office. This would be his Final Glory and Trashtrump would have mud on his ugly face.

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Looking at the painful photo's from both sides makes you wonder what kind of a person could be leading this MADDNESS and CARNAGE??

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It would be nice if some deal were made before Joe is out of office.

The big US military industrial complex (Netanyahu's right arm) will not allow it. That is why Biden had to sign another package of $8 billion of American made weapons before he checks out. There is enormous money to be made in Wall Street about this conflict, not to mention the gains in the territorial disputes:

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cpvne94v1rdo

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Both Biden and Trump have reportedly described Netanyahu, privately, in less than flattering terms.

Must be hard talking to someone you have describes as a liar.

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Israel’s campaign in Gaza has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, the majority women and children, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, whose count does not give a breakdown between fighters and civilians. Israel’s campaign was triggered by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 attack, in which militants killed some 1,200 people and abducted around 250 others.

Sorry, but this stale, anodyne account is misleading in many ways: the bloodless word "campaign" doesn't even begin to describe the horror of relentless 24/7 terror bombing for 14 straight months together with the live-streamed atrocities and war crimes perpetrated by the Israelis with malice aforethought on the civilian population of occupied Gaza, the destruction of homes, hospitals, universities, schools, libraries, buildings of historical and cultural significance, cemeteries, water and agricultural facilities, in short, every component destroyed necessary to sustain a functioning society. The deliberate homicidal targeting of women, children, babies, doctors and medical staff, aid workers, journalists, intellectuals and the egregious policy of blocking food, medicine and water entering the sealed territory has also contributed to the risible 46,000+ deaths, a number that has hardly budged since last summer while ascribing this number to Gaza's Health Ministry is grimly misleading in that it does not include the 10,000+ buried under the rubble and the tens of thousands of missing and uncounted for. There are 10,000 abducted Gazan males in prison camps suffering torture and intolerable conditions (a taboo topic in western media), all of which suggests that the figure of 150,000+ estimated by reliable outside sources is closer to the truth. Finally, the stale, debunked Israeli account of October 7 omits to mention the number of Israeli citizens killed by the IDF. So now we learn that the two men most responsible for this plausible genocide (ICJ, Amnesty International), the arms supplier and self-confessed zionist, Biden, with a week left in office is talking to Netanyahu the man most wanted as a war criminal by the ICC. Too little to late. Biden's legacy is now sealed in blood.

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Reamer above...these words have to be written, to be spoken to be shouted and screamed ....

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