At his seaside workplace advanced in Doha on Wednesday night, the Qatari prime minister thought he had a deal. Hamas’s negotiators, led by a burly former lawmaker, had left the prime minister’s workplace, having given up on an Eleventh-hour demand that was the final main impediment to a cease-fire in Gaza after 466 days of conflict.
Reporters had begun to assemble in an auditorium downstairs, anticipating to witness the prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, announce that he and different mediators had lastly brokered a deal. Two American envoys joined Sheikh Mohammed as he ready his assertion.
All of a sudden, there was a brand new drawback, in accordance with two individuals aware of the negotiations.
In a room elsewhere on the sixth flooring, the Israeli delegation, led by the heads of Israel’s two essential intelligence companies, had their very own last-minute demand. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu needed to make clear the names of a handful of Palestinian prisoners whom Israel would launch throughout the truce.
As his aides tried to resolve the ultimate hitch, Sheikh Mohammed sat in his workplace with Brett McGurk, President Biden’s lead negotiator, and Steve Witkoff, the consultant of President-elect Donald J. Trump, hoping that their efforts had not been wasted.
This account of the ultimate days of negotiation relies on conversations with 9 individuals concerned in or briefed on the talks, a few of whom spoke on situation of anonymity to debate delicate diplomacy.
The truce that was in the end introduced on the belated information briefing, hours after Israel’s new demand, was little completely different to variations promoted for a lot of the previous yr by mediators from Egypt, Qatar and the Biden administration, whose representatives met ceaselessly with the opponents in Cairo, Doha and a number of other European capitals all through 2024.
What pushed the deal over the road this previous week was the unlikely partnership between the envoys of America’s present and future presidents, working in tandem with the Qatari prime minister in marathon late-night conferences. Whereas Mr. Biden and Mr. Trump have competed for credit score, the truth is that their representatives had been each essential to the ultimate push, every utilizing completely different approaches to push the Israeli management towards a deal whereas Sheikh Mohammed targeted on Hamas.
Beginning final Sunday, the Israeli and Palestinian delegations, in addition to the 2 People, spent lengthy days on the prime minister’s compound, near the outdated market in downtown Doha. The delegations, which don’t communicate immediately to one another, sat in several rooms on completely different flooring, with Qatari and Egyptian officers passing messages between the 2 sides.
“They aren’t pure companions, however the mixture of those three people, and the three worlds they symbolize, was the one factor that was going to get this performed,” stated Thomas R. Nides, a former U.S. ambassador to Israel. “You wanted stress from all sides — stress from the Arab world, stress from Biden, and stress from Trump.”
It was Mr. McGurk, a veteran diplomat lengthy targeted on the Center East, who has helped oversee U.S. mediation efforts for the reason that opening weeks of the conflict and who helped craft the deal’s difficult particulars almost a yr in the past. It was Mr. Witkoff, an actual property investor who performs golf with Mr. Trump, who was instrumental in persuading Israel to lastly conform to the deal’s contents. And it was Sheikh Mohammed who persuaded Hamas to make key compromises, whereas offering either side with the workplace house wherein to wrangle the ultimate particulars.
The deal they sealed gives for a pause of at the least six weeks within the combating, throughout which period Hamas has agreed to progressively launch 33 of the hostages captured throughout the group’s raid on Israel in the beginning of the conflict on Oct. 7, 2023. In change, Israel has dedicated to progressively releasing roughly 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, a few of whom are serving life sentences for homicide, and permitting a whole lot of 1000’s of displaced Gazans to return to their houses.
The deal is extraordinarily just like proposals that the 2 sides almost agreed to between Could and July 2024. These talks broke down amid disputes about whether or not to forge a everlasting or non permanent truce, whether or not and the way to enable displaced Gazans to return house, how and when Israeli troops may withdraw from Gaza, and the variety of hostages Hamas may launch within the first weeks of a truce.
In consequence, the conflict dragged on, resulting in the killing of tens of 1000’s extra Palestinians, in addition to a number of Israeli hostages.
Critics accused Mr. Netanyahu of sabotaging the talks to keep away from a collapse of his governing coalition, which included lawmakers against a deal. Others stated that Hamas had deliberately extended the negotiations within the hope that Israel may turn out to be entrenched in a wider regional battle with Hamas’s allies in Lebanon, Iran and Yemen. At occasions, Qatar refused to proceed mediating, accusing either side of halfhearted engagement.
Momentum returned after Mr. Trump’s re-election in November, even earlier than the president-elect warned Hamas that there could be “all hell to pay” if the hostages weren’t launched by his inauguration. He appointed Mr. Witkoff, who had no diplomatic expertise however rising enterprise relationships in Qatar, as his emissary within the Center East. Mr. Witkoff had been enjoying golf with Mr. Trump in September throughout what legislation enforcement officers stated was an try on the previous and future president’s life.
Quietly, members of the Biden administration reached out to Mr. Witkoff to see if they may work collectively on the cease-fire talks, in accordance with two individuals aware of the conversations. Regardless of huge political chasms between their bosses, Mr. McGurk and Mr. Witkoff started to coordinate, generally speaking a number of occasions a day, in accordance with one of many individuals.
Nonetheless, vast gaps between Hamas and Israel remained. Shortly earlier than Christmas, with simply weeks left within the Biden presidency, Mr. McGurk returned despondently from a visit to Doha. He instructed the Qataris that he wouldn’t fly again except Hamas made a transparent sign of its curiosity in a deal, in accordance with two individuals aware of his pondering.
That second got here within the first days of January, in accordance with two individuals concerned within the course of. Sheikh Mohammed persuaded Hamas to substantiate the names of greater than 30 hostages who could be launched throughout the first six weeks of a truce, a long-awaited transfer that recommended the group was genuinely thinking about a deal, the individuals stated. The rationale for Hamas’s shift stays unclear, however analysts say that Israel’s growing dominance over Hamas’s essential allies, Hezbollah and Iran, left the group feeling remoted, whereas its personal losses on the battlefield in Gaza left it feeling weakened.
Mr. McGurk was knowledgeable of the breakthrough whereas attending his daughter’s party at an indoor trampoline park on Jan. 4, in accordance with two individuals aware of the occasion. He left the get together midway via, instantly flying to Doha to satisfy Sheikh Mohammed, his Egyptian counterparts and Israeli negotiators. Mr. Witkoff joined him on Jan. 10, and the pair agreed with Sheikh Mohammed that the People would collectively concentrate on cajoling Israel whereas the prime minister would press Hamas.
The principle remaining variations centered on the depth of a buffer zone that Israel sought to take care of inside Gaza’s borders, in addition to the variety of prisoners to be exchanged for wounded and sick hostages.
It was a go to at brief discover by Mr. Witkoff to Jerusalem final Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, that introduced a brand new breakthrough, in accordance with 4 officers briefed on the assembly.
Mr. Witkoff sat with Mr. Netanyahu and senior Israeli officers within the prime minister’s Jerusalem workplace, with Mr. McGurk becoming a member of the dialogue by phone.
The 2 People pressed Mr. Netanyahu to melt on the final two huge obstacles, in accordance with an individual aware of the dialogue. Mr. McGurk warned the Israeli chief that he risked shedding his greatest probability of sealing a deal. Then Mr. Witkoff utilized the required stress, stressing to Mr. Netanyahu that Mr. Trump needed this deal performed, the particular person stated.
After the assembly, Mr. Netanyahu appeared to have modified his perspective, 4 officers stated. He instantly ordered his 4 prime negotiators — together with David Barnea, the pinnacle of Israel’s international intelligence company, and Ronen Bar, Israel’s home spy chief — to Doha.
Over the subsequent 4 days, Sheikh Mohammed hosted a marathon sequence of conferences, largely in his private workplace, as Hamas officers, Israeli negotiators, Egyptian intelligence officers and the 2 People spoke with him, generally till the small hours of the morning.
The Israeli and Hamas groups, based mostly on completely different flooring, by no means noticed one another; they took turns getting into the prime minister’s workplace for updates on their enemy’s newest place.
Progress was generally hindered by the character of Hamas’s command construction, which required its leaders in Qatar to verify sure particulars with their counterparts in Gaza, who’re all in hiding and arduous to achieve.
Mr. McGurk and Mr. Witkoff additionally usually checked in with their respective bosses; at occasions, Mr. McGurk was talking with Mr. Biden whereas Mr. Witkoff, simply yards away, was on the cellphone with Mr. Trump or his group, in accordance with an individual aware of the scene.
“We had been negotiating phrase by phrase, sentence by sentence and system by system,” stated Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, a minister of state within the Qatari international ministry. “It turns into exhausting mentally and bodily.”
The most important breakthrough got here near midnight on Sunday evening, in accordance with three individuals aware of the second.
Sheikh Mohammed instructed the 2 People that the deal could possibly be closed if Israel may make two extra compromises, in accordance with one of many individuals.
Mr. McGurk and Mr. Witkoff walked collectively down the hall to the Israelis’ room, the place the negotiators had been already talking by cellphone with Mr. Netanyahu. Becoming a member of the decision, the People instructed the Israeli chief {that a} deal could possibly be reached if he agreed to barely improve the variety of prisoners concerned within the swap, in addition to barely lower the depth of the buffer zone.
After a loud debate in Hebrew between Mr. Netanyahu and his group, they made the compromise.
The People returned to replace Sheikh Mohammed.
“We may have a deal,” the Qatari chief instructed the envoys, in accordance with the particular person aware of the scene.
After a yr of failure, round midnight on Sunday, they thought that they had an settlement, topic to wrangling over small remaining particulars.
Nonetheless, Wednesday introduced extra hitches. With the information briefing scheduled for the night, Hamas immediately tried to reopen a dialogue about how a lot land Israeli troops would proceed to regulate alongside the border between Egypt and Gaza.
Then, after Egyptian and Qatari leaders had persuaded Hamas to again down, Israel pushed for larger readability about which Palestinian prisoners could be launched.
1000’s of miles away, within the Oval Workplace, Jake Sullivan, the nationwide safety adviser, sat with President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, awaiting information from Mr. McGurk.
At the same time as Sheikh Mohammed lastly introduced the deal on Wednesday evening, the final prisoners’ identities had been nonetheless being clarified by the 2 sides, in accordance with an individual aware of the controversy.
However Mr. McGurk and Mr. Witkoff felt assured sufficient to tell their bosses {that a} cease-fire could be reached, one particular person aware of the scene stated.
That remaining wrangling continued into Thursday, with Mr. McGurk and Mr. Witkoff lastly leaving Qatar that evening.
The deal was cemented — and so was one of many unlikeliest pairings in diplomatic historical past.
Aaron Boxerman and Ronen Bergman contributed reporting.
