US increasingly skeptical about Hamas’ seriousness on hostage agreement, despite agreement on ‘90% of the deal’

14 of the deal's 18 paragraphs have reportedly been agreed upon

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The Biden administration is increasingly skeptical about Hamas’ willingness to reach a hostage and truce deal, despite large portions of the proposal already being agreed upon, U.S. officials told media outlets on Wednesday.

According to the Jerusalem Post, a senior Biden administration official told the media on Wednesday that “Basically, 90% of this deal has been agreed on.”

The primary unresolved issues include Israel's presence in the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border, which Hamas demands be withdrawn during the first stage of any potential deal, and the specific terms of the hostages-for-terrorists exchange.

“The text is basically done except for two paragraphs and the annexes of the prisoner exchange and two maps of IDF deployment in Gaza during the first phase of the deal,” according to the Axios news outlet, citing a U.S. official. The deal reportedly has 18 paragraphs, four of which continue to be the subject of negotiations.

However, U.S. officials said that the execution of six Israeli hostages last weekend fundamentally called into question the willingness of Hamas to reach such a deal.

“Before the events of this weekend, we had been working together with Egypt and Qatar, particularly on the arrangements of the prisoner exchange and putting together a package by which you would basically have everything worked out,” the official said.

The murder of the hostages “has brought a sense of urgency to the process, but it's also called into question Hamas's readiness to do a deal of any kind,” he added.

According to the press briefings, around 800 Palestinian terrorists are set to be released by Israel during a hostage deal, including some with the blood of Israeli civilians on their hands.

In exchange, between 18 and 32 Israeli hostages will be released in the first stage, which is widely regarded in Israel as the only realistically achievable phase of a potential deal.

“There’s a list of hostages, and we all have it, and Hamas has had it, and all the parties have had it, and there are now fewer names on the list,” an official said.

Recent talks in Doha, Qatar, are said to have focused on the issue of the exchange, while talks in Cairo involved protracted discussions about the Philadelphi Corridor, not just with Hamas but also with Egypt, which also opposes Israel’s control of the Gaza side of the border.

“A dispute emerged over whether the Philadelphi corridor, which is effectively a road on the border of Gaza and Egypt, is a densely populated area,” an official explained.

“Israelis over the course of the last couple weeks, produced a proposal by which they would significantly reduce their presence on the corridor,” the official said, confirming comments made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in a recent press conference, where he emphasized the need to maintain a presence but expressed openness to reducing its scope.

“We are going to make sure and certain that Israel's security is of the primary interest in this deal, I have seen some Israeli ministers say this deal somehow would sacrifice Israel’s security. That is just fundamentally, totally untrue,” the official added.

“If anything, I would argue that not getting into this deal is more of a threat to Israel’s long-term security than actually concluding the deal.”

The official also criticized Netanyahu for publicly staking out his position on the Philadelphi Corridor in a rare press conference, in which he turned directly to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. Regarding an Israeli withdrawal from the corridor, Netanyahu said: "Forget it."

“I’ve never been involved in a negotiation where every day there’s a public statement about the details of negotiation. It makes it difficult. The less that is said about particular issues, the better,” a U.S. official said.

Another official also said that a "final" U.S. draft proposal will be presented to the parties this weekend.