Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has informed President Joe Biden that Israel will participate in peace talks with Hamas based on the latest draft of a deal, but stressed that Israel will not end the war unless "all of its goals" are met.
The news comes as Hamas agreed to drop demands for a pledge from Israel to end the war, reports The Jerusalem Post.
The agreement prompted Netanyahu to send in a team, led by Mossad Director David Barnea, to engage in further deal negotiations.
Netanyahu told Biden that the talks will be based on the latest draft deal, received Wednesday, with a proposal dealing with the remaining 120 hostages seized by Hamas last October and for a cease-fire in Gaza.
Still, he reiterated that the goals, which are to eliminate Hamas and to secure the release of the remaining hostages, are still paramount.
Hamas is still expected to call on Israel to agree to a permanent cease-fire, but by dropping the demand for now, there has been some hope that the deadlock on the plan Biden unveiled on May 31 may be broken.
Top defense officials said the pending negotiations are the closest Israel has come to date to achieving a hostage deal with Hamas since last November, when 105 of the 215 hostages seized on Oct. 7 were released.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian official said to be close to the talks told Reuters that Hamas is showing some flexibility on the three-phase deal, which involves the release of 33 hostages in stage one, in exchange for a cease to the war.
Talks would then be held to discuss a permanent cease-fire, starting on day 16 and concluding before phase two begins.
Several details regarding the deal are still under discussion, including which Palestinian prisoners should be released from Isreal's prisons.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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