US President-elect Donald Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, is now returning to Qatar to join the hostage deal talks after he was in Israel on Saturday to discuss the hostage deal after previously being in Qatar, a source familiar with the subject told The Jerusalem Post.
Witkoff met with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as a senior Israeli official stated on Saturday that progress had been made in negotiations over the hostage deal in Qatar.
After Netanyahu's meeting with Witkoff, a conference call was held with Biden's adviser Brett McGurk who is in Qatar.
The Biden administration and Biden's adviser were briefed on the details of Witkoff's meeting in Israel, sources with knowledge of the subject told the Post. The two administrations are working closely together.
At the conclusion of a situational assessment of the hostages held by Netanyahu, the prime minister instructed Mossad Chief David Barnea, Shin Bet Chief, Maj.-Gen. (res.) Nitzan Alon, and Diplomatic Adviser Ophir Falk to travel to Doha to continue advancing a hostage deal.
The Israeli official had noted earlier that an assessment was underway to determine whether hostage deal progress justified elevating the Israeli delegation by sending the Mossad chief, Shin Bet director, and Maj.-Gen. Nitzan Alon to Doha.
A White House spokesperson told reporters on Friday, “We have made some progress, but Hamas continues to create obstacles at the negotiating table.”
American and Israeli officials have expressed concerns that if an agreement is not reached before former US President Donald Trump takes office, the negotiations could reach a serious impasse.
Hostage deal
This news comes after a Friday report by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed , which claimed that Hamas sources said that Netanyahu had agreed to end the war following the completion of the first phase of a ceasefire deal.
A source from Hamas told the London-based news outlet that some of the changes were regarding agreements to postpone discussions on some contentious issues until later stages of the negotiations.
This is a developing story.
Reuters contributed to this report.