US President Donald Trump wants the proposed ceasefire between Hamas and Israel in Gaza to lead to a permanent end to the war, with the two-month timeline at the core of the deal automatically extending.
That desire was relayed during a meeting between White House Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff and Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington on Monday, a US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The National.
The proposed deal has a 60-day time frame, but Mr Trump wants that to automatically extend.
“This ceasefire, even though it's for 60 days, it will be automatically guaranteed to continue until such time that negotiations between two parties lead to a permanent resolution,” the official said.
During a cabinet meeting in the White House on Tuesday, Mr Witkoff said he hoped a ceasefire would be reached this week.
“We are hopeful that by the end of this week, an agreement that will bring us into a 60-day ceasefire,” Mr Witkoff said adding that all but one issue had been resolved.
He said 10 live hostages would be released as well as the bodies of nine deceased captives.
“We’re meeting at the President’s direction with all the hostage families to let them know,” Mr Witkoff said.
State Department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce later said the deal would "probably" come by the end of the week.
Mr Trump, who took office in January, campaigned on a promise to bring peace to the Middle East. He also wants to see Israel sign additional normalisation agreements under the Abraham Accords.
But attempts to end the 21-month war in Gaza have dragged on even as Israel has reduced much of the Palestinian territory to rubble.
A two-month truce that took effect on January 19 collapsed in March, and there is concern that fighting would resume after a new ceasefire expires.
Israeli and US officials are wary of a permanent ceasefire due to concerns that Hamas would rearm, develop weapons or conduct attacks on Israel, the official said.
Continuing negotiations are focused on two additional issues, the official added: the entry of humanitarian aid and the redeployment of Israeli troops.
The issue of aid was “effectively resolved” on Monday, though officials are still discussing the volume of aid that would enter, and the mechanisms.
Israel had wanted to expand the operations of the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, according to the official, referring to the controversial US-Israeli backed group that began disbursing food five weeks ago.
About 550 people have been killed near its aid centres while seeking food, many from live fire, according to Gaza health authorities.
The GHF and the White House have denied the deaths took place in the immediate vicinity of the aid sites.
The official said the UN and other international organisations will be tasked with aid distribution during the ceasefire.
The third issue is the reposting of Israeli troops. The official said that Israel had shown maps whereby they would have the right to enter Gaza up to 6.5km from its borders.
“This was a non-starter for Hamas,” the official said, noting that the coastal enclave is only about 10km wide.
The proposed deal in Gaza, in addition to the two-month truce, would crucially include the release of hostages held by Hamas in exchange for Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.
The seeming progress comes as Mr Netanyahu is in Washington this week on his third US trip since Mr Trump took office on January 20.
Mr Trump said the talks, which are aimed to bring an end to the conflict were going “very well”.
He met Mr Netanyahu again on Tuesday evening. Ahead of that meeting, Mr Netanyahu met members of Congress, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, and he was also expected to meet a group of bipartisan senators, Politico reported.
Israel and Hamas were holding indirect talks for a third day in Qatar. Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari told reporters on Tuesday that mediators “will need time” to reach a deal.
Qatar and Egypt, along with the US, are mediating the talks. Mr Witkoff is expected to head to Doha this week, the White House said.
The conflict began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel, killing about 1,200 people and taking about 240 hostages.
Israel launched a large-scale military offensive in Gaza in response, which has killed more than 57,500 Palestinians and injured more than 135,000 others.
