US officials believe a ceasefire and hostage release agreement in the war between Israel and Hamas is in sight, the first sign of serious optimism within the outgoing administration of President Joe Biden, sources familiar with the situation told the media.
While stressing that officials will remain cautious until negotiations produce a final agreement to end the conflict in Gaza, CNN sources told CNN that US officials believe a ceasefire agreement could be announced during the final days of President Joe Biden's term.
Mediators presented Israel and Hamas with a final draft of an agreement to end the war yesterday after a "breakthrough" was achieved at midnight in negotiations attended by envoys from both Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
An official told Reuters that the text of the ceasefire and hostage release was presented by Qatar during talks in Doha, which included the heads of Israel's Mossad and Shin Bet security services, as well as the Qatari prime minister. According to the official, negotiations for the release of up to 33 Israeli hostages are at an "advanced stage."

Steve Witkoff, who will become the US envoy when Trump is re-elected next week, attended the talks, the official said. A US source told Reuters that the outgoing Biden administration envoy, Brett McGurk, was also present.
"The next 24 hours will be crucial to reaching an agreement," the official told Reuters, describing the draft as the result of a breakthrough achieved in the early hours of yesterday.
Israel's Kan Radio, citing an Israeli official, reported that the Israeli and Hamas delegations in Qatar had received the draft, and that the Israeli delegation had informed Israeli leaders.
“Negotiations on some key issues have progressed and we are working to conclude what remains soon,” a Hamas official told Reuters, asking to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the topic.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said that negotiations are being coordinated between the teams of Joe Biden and Donald Trump.
"There is progress, the situation looks much better than before. I want to thank our American friends for the enormous efforts they are making to secure an agreement on the release of the hostages," Sarr told a press conference.
The US, Qatar and Egypt have been working on negotiations to end the war in Gaza for more than a year, but so far without success.
The warring parties have agreed in principle for months to halt fighting in exchange for the release of hostages held by Hamas and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

However, Hamas has always insisted that the agreement must lead to a permanent end to the war and Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel says it will not end the war until Hamas is destroyed.
Donald Trump's inauguration, scheduled for January 20, is now widely seen in the region as the deadline for reaching a deal.
Netanyahu spoke with Biden on Sunday about the progress of the negotiations, their first publicly announced phone conversation since October.
Netanyahu, who also met with Trump's future envoy, Steve Witkoff, on Saturday, is facing pressure from both the outgoing and incoming US administrations to reach an agreement.
A source familiar with the ceasefire and hostage talks told CNN yesterday that Donald Trump is a key motivator for Israel to reach a deal with Hamas. According to the source, Netanyahu “wants to stay close to Trump.” He also said that even if an agreement is not reached by January 20, when Trump is sworn in as president, “we have to reach some kind of framework agreement” by that date.
However, the optimistic tone was tempered by Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who said yesterday that a potential ceasefire and hostage release deal would be a “catastrophe” for Israel’s national security. In a post on Platform X, Smotrich described the deal as a “capitulation” that would include the release of “terrorists” and the “undoing” of the war’s achievements.
Yesterday, ten members of Netanyahu’s Likud party sent a letter to the Israeli prime minister expressing concerns about the potential deal and reiterating three “red lines” that should not be crossed. The Knesset members stressed that Israel must not rely on others for its security, that all hostages must be returned, and that the mass return of residents of northern Gaza must be prevented under any agreement.
Gazans fear new empty promises
Gazans hope that negotiations could end the war, but fear that announcements of progress towards an agreement are just "empty" promises.
"Every time they say there are negotiations, we hear nothing but their failure," said Abdul Rahman Salama, a resident of Khan Yunis, who spoke to CNN as he tried to find things in the rubble of his destroyed house. "The destruction is incredible. I hope the war stops as suddenly as it started; it ends suddenly, but all these negotiations are empty talk - lies upon lies."
Ahmad Salama, also from Khan Yunis who was displaced by the war, said: “My family hopes that the negotiations will succeed so that the war will end, so that we can return to safety, so that the fear and terror will stop, and so that we will not have to flee again with the children and my mother from one place to another.”
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