After months of deadlock, Israel and Hamas appear to be moving closer toward a ceasefire to end their 14-month war.
Top officials from the U.S., Qatar and Egypt have resumed their mediation efforts in recent weeks and reported greater willingness by the warring sides to wrap up a deal. In a key concession, Hamas officials say they are prepared to show more “flexibility" on the timing of an Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza, and Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, said Monday that a deal is closer than ever.
Officials on all sides have cautioned that key details must still be worked out. But there is a general sense of optimism that has been lacking for many months.
The changing sentiment appears to be the result of several factors. Israel has inflicted heavy damage on Hamas over the course of the war. The group is more isolated after Hezbollah’s ceasefire with Israel, and Iran, a key backer of both militant groups, has suffered a number of setbacks, highlighted by the downfall of its close ally, Syria’s Bashar Assad.
In the U.S., both the outgoing Biden administration and the incoming administration of President-elect Donald Trump have signaled they want a deal completed before the Jan. 20 inauguration.
According to Egyptian and Hamas officials, the agreement would take place in phases and include a halt in fighting, an exchange of captive Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners, and a surge in aid to the besieged Gaza Strip. Israel says Hamas is holding 100 hostages — over one-third of whom are believed to be dead.
Here is a closer look at the emerging deal, according to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing closed negotiations.
The first phase would last from six to eight weeks. During that time, Hamas would release some 30 hostages – roughly half of those believed alive. They include three or four dual U.S.-Israeli citizens.
Israel would release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including as many as 100 who are serving long sentences for alleged involvement in bloody attacks.
The deal calls for a massive increase in aid to Gaza, which has plunged into a humanitarian crisis during the 14-month war. An estimated 90% of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been displaced, in many cases multiple times, and aid workers report severe hunger across the territory.
This is expected to include a reopening of the territory’s Rafah crossing with Egypt, which has been closed since Israeli ground troops invaded the southern border town in May. The crossing is especially important because it is the primary exit point for Palestinians in Gaza who want to travel abroad, and the only one not controlled by Israel.
Mediators say they are considering a return to a 2005 agreement that allowed the internationally recognized Palestinian Authority to operate the crossing with European Union observers. That agreement collapsed when Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007 and expelled the Palestinian Authority forces.
During the first phase, Israeli troops would withdraw from some Palestinian population centers, allowing many Palestinians to begin returning home. But Israeli troops wouldn't leave Gaza altogether at this stage. They would remain along the Philadelphi corridor – a strategic strip of land along Gaza’s border with Egypt.
During the initial ceasefire, the sides would continue negotiations on a permanent agreement, to include an end to the war, full withdrawal of Israeli troops, and release of remaining hostages and bodies held by Hamas.
Talks would begin on final arrangements for Gaza, including who would govern the territory and plans for rebuilding the destruction.
FILE - Einav Zangauker, center, mother of Israeli hostage Matan Zangauker, takes part in a protest in Tel Aviv, Israel, Dec. 7, 2024, following the release of a Hamas video of Matan making a plea for his own release. (AP Photo/Mahmoud Illean, File)
FILE - Palestinians look at the aftermath of an Israeli bombing in Nuseirat refugee camp, Gaza Strip, June 8, 2024. (AP Photo/Jehad Alshrafi, File)
FILE - Israeli army troops walk near a destroyed building during a ground operation in Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, Jan. 10. 2024. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg, File)
FILE - Palestinians flee from the southern Gaza city of Rafah during an Israeli ground and air offensive May 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana, File)
President-elect Donald Trump on Monday held a wide-ranging news conference in which he said he would preserve access to the polio vaccine but equivocated on other vaccines, pledged to look at bringing down the costs of pharmaceuticals and expressed doubts that his daughter-in-law might be Florida's next senator.
Trump held forth for over an hour, the first time he took questions from reporters since winning the election. The event harkens back to his long-winding news conferences from his first term and is a stark contrast from President Joe Biden, who doesn't often take questions from reporters.
Here's a look at some of what he touched on:
Trump defended his choice for health secretary, prominent vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but said he personally is a “big believer” in the polio vaccine and would preserve access to it.
“You’re not going to lose the polio vaccine," he said. “That’s not going to happen.”
Over the weekend, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell, who had polio as a child, spoke out in defense of the polio vaccine after a recent report disclosed that one of Kennedy's advisers filed a petition to revoke approval for the polio vaccine in 2022.
Kennedy has long advanced the debunked idea that vaccines cause autism. Trump seemed to question whether there’s a link, saying “We’re looking to find out,” and remarked on the rising cases of autism being diagnosed.
“There’s something wrong, and we’re going to find out about it,” he said.
There are no blood or biological tests for autism; instead, a doctor bases the diagnosis on a child’s behavior. While the autism diagnosis has been available for at least 80 years, the definition gradually expanded to include milder cases, which are more common. A study last year found that about a quarter of kids with autism — about 110,000 in the U.S. — have the most severe version of the developmental disability, which has left them unable to speak or with an IQ below 50 or both.
Of Kennedy, “He’s going to be much less radical than you would think," he said. "I think he’s got a very open mind, or I wouldn’t have put him there.”
Trump described a dinner he had this month with Kennedy; Dr. Mehmet Oz, a celebrity heart surgeon turned talk show host and lifestyle guru whom he's tapped to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; and top pharmaceutical executives in which they discussed drug prices.
Trump heaped praise on the companies — the same ones that Kennedy has routinely argued profit off of Americans unfairly — but said the high cost of health care was a focus of their dinner.
“What came out of that meeting is that we’re paying far too much,” Trump said.
Trump also hit pharmaceutical benefits managers, calling them “horrible middlemen” who drive up the cost of drugs. Pharmaceutical companies have been aggressively lobbying Congress to restrict the role of pharmaceutical benefit managers, which help health insurance companies’ biggest clients decide how and what prescription drugs will be covered in their insurance plans.
“I don’t know who these middlemen are, but they are rich as hell," Trump said.
The press conference was Trump’s most extensive public appearance since his victory six weeks ago — a rare absence from the public stage for the former reality star.
But it also underscored how even while president-elect, Trump has seized the spotlight from Biden, who still has a month left on his term in office. Biden has not held a press conference in months and has had a limited public schedule.
While Trump was addressing some of the top-of-mind issues of the day -- including sightings of drones flying over the Northeast -- Biden himself has been silent, leaving it to aides to try to calm the public.
Trump seemed skeptical that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis would appoint his daughter-in-law to be a Florida senator, taking the seat held by Marco Rubio, who has been nominated for secretary of state.
Asked whether he expected DeSantis to name Lara Trump to replace Rubio, Trump said, “I probably don’t, but I don’t know.” Trump recently spoke with DeSantis at a memorial for Florida law enforcement officers.
Trump's allies have been pushing DeSantis to nominate Lara Trump, who is married to Trump's son, Eric, and served as co-chair of the Republican National Committee this year.
“Ron’s doing a good job with his choice," Trump said, without elaborating.
He lavished praise on Lara Trump, including for her work at the RNC, where part of her duties involved focusing on “election integrity,” a priority of Trump's after he falsely claimed fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Trump indicated he would look at intervening in the potential ban of TikTok in the U.S. The popular social media platform must cut ties with its China-based parent company or be banned by mid-January under a federal law.
He didn't offer specifics, but Trump credited the platform with helping him win the election. His campaign saw it as a bridge to reach younger, less politically engaged voters, particularly when clips circulated showing him with celebrities at UFC fights.
“We’ll take a look at TikTok,” he said. “You know, I have a warm spot in my heart for TikTok."
Trump tried to ban TikTok during his first term but changed his mind and pledged to “save” TikTok. Once he takes office, his Justice Department would be tasked with enforcing the new federal law against TikTok.
Trump on Monday was meeting with TikTok CEO Shou Chew at his Mar-a-Lago club, according to two people familiar with the president-elect’s plans who were not authorized to speak publicly about them and spoke to AP on condition of anonymity.
Trump noted the differences between the first time he was to take office eight years ago and today, saying executives now want to meet with him.
He said they were “hostile” back then.
“Everybody was fighting me,” he said about his first term. “This term, everybody wants to be my friend. I don’t know. My personality changed or something.”
While he left office in 2021 ostracized and angry, Trump has had a stunning turnaround leading to his election win. Last week, he was honored by being named Time magazine’s Person of the Year and ringing the opening bell at the New York Stock Exchange.
His meeting with the TikTok executive was part of a string of meetings he's had with Silicon Valley billionaires and other technology leaders since becoming president-elect. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, Apple CEO Tim Cook and Google CEO Sundar Pichai have all flown to Trump's club to meet with him.
He revealed Monday that he had also met with Google co-founder Sergey Brin. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos will meet with him this week, Trump said.
“We have a lot of great executives coming in — the top executives, the top bankers, they’re all calling," he said. "It’s like a complete opposite from the first one.”
With multiple wars going on, Trump has sought to insert himself back on the world stage. He said he is working to get Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza to be released and had a “very good talk” with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
But on Monday he seemed to buffer expectations about his promise to solve the Russia-Ukraine war even before taking office, describing the conflict as a “tough one” and a “nasty one."
“We are trying to get that war stopped, that horrible, horrible war” he said. “It’s a tough one. It’s a nasty one. It’s nasty. People are being killed at levels that nobody’s ever seen.”
Russia's invasion of Ukraine is Europe’s biggest armed conflict since World War II and has cost tens of thousands of lives on both sides.
Trump declined to say whether he's spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin since winning the election. He met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Paris this month when he visited for the reopening of Notre Dame Cathedral.
Trump's incoming press secretary has said that Trump invited Chinese leader Xi Jinping and other world leaders to his Jan. 20 inauguration, but Trump said Monday that Zelenskyy was not among them. “If he'd like to come, I'd like to have him," Trump said.
Trump said Xi has not yet said whether he is coming. He described the Chinese leader as “a friend of mine” and “an amazing guy” but acknowledged that the COVID-19 pandemic had affected their relationship.
“It was a bridge too far for me,” he said.
Associated Press writers Zeke Miller and Amanda Seitz in Washington and Colleen Long in Palm Beach, Florida, contributed to this report.
President-elect Donald Trump departs after a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son smiles with President-elect Donald Trump during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla., as Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick listens. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President-elect Donald Trump departs a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla., followed by Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President-elect Donald Trump departs a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla., followed by Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla., as Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick listens. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla., as Commerce Secretary nominee Howard Lutnick listens. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
