Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke on the phone today (Sunday) with President Joe Biden, discussing "the progress in the negotiations to release our hostages and updated him on the mandate he gave to the negotiating team to Doha in order to advance the release of our hostages."
Netanyahu also "thanked President Biden and President-elect Donald Trump for cooperating in this sacred mission."
Axios reporter Barak Ravid reports that Biden said an immediate ceasefire is needed to free the hostages and ensure more humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.
Initial optimism that a hostage deal could be secured by the time of President-elect Trump's inauguration on January 20 or even by the end of December has since cooled, as strong differences remain between Israel and Hamas regarding the number of hostages and prisoners to be released and whether a deal must be conditional on ending the war permanently.
A particular sticking point has been Israel's demand that Hamas submit a list of live hostages to be released. Hamas has been evasive on this question, often claiming that it does not know how many hostages are still alive due to the situation on the ground in the Gaza Strip.
Estimates of US and Israeli intelligence as to the number of live hostages varies, with some going as low as 20 and some stating that around 60 hostages are still presumed alive (with about 38 confirmed dead) unless proven otherwise.
Defense Minister Israel Katz has warned that if Hamas does not release the hostages soon, the IDF will hit Hamas and the Gaza Strip with a force it has not experienced "in a long time." The IDF has been ordered to draw up military plans for this eventuality.
Meanwhile, the IDF is continuing to thoroughly go through the northern Gaza Strip to eliminate all remaining Hamas forces, weapons, and infrastructure, with the aim of protecting the south from any rocket attacks or terrorist infiltrations. Some 50 IDF soldiers have died in this effort.
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