From the United States: The negotiations that led to the Gaza hostages deal

FRANCE 24 English

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00:00 Well, the US has been very stumped for weeks.

00:02 Understandably, it's a very sensitive situation.

00:05 However, the press got off a call earlier

00:08 with a senior administration official

00:10 who really laid out what's been going on behind the scenes.

00:13 And let me tell you, it has been weeks of back and forth

00:16 between Qatar, the US, Israel, and Hamas.

00:19 Qatar, of course, being the only party

00:21 which has a direct line to Hamas.

00:23 They've actually been in talks for this fifth negotiation

00:26 with 50 hostages for around five weeks, as it is at the moment.

00:30 And that really gives you an idea

00:32 of how granular the details are of these negotiations.

00:35 And the chief hang up was actually

00:38 who was going to be released.

00:39 Hamas at one point refused to give any details

00:42 of the people who would be released.

00:44 That included their age, their nationality as well.

00:47 And it wasn't until that information ultimately was given

00:49 that things could start to move ahead.

00:52 We also found out that it was because of a bit of US pressure

00:55 that Netanyahu also really went for this deal.

00:58 There was, again, back and forth,

00:59 but it was ultimately Joe Biden saying to Netanyahu,

01:01 look, I think you need to take this deal.

01:04 Netanyahu was quite hesitant about it.

01:07 He actually then said himself, Netanyahu,

01:09 at the opening of that war cabinet meeting

01:11 overnight on Tuesday, that it was because of Joe Biden

01:14 that Israel was paying a lower price, as you were,

01:17 that 150 Palestinians that would be released,

01:20 and really gave some credit to Joe Biden for that as well.

01:23 However, once that negotiation with Joe Biden

01:25 and the lowering of the price for Israel had gone on,

01:28 there was another breakdown in communication

01:30 when Hamas just dropped communication

01:33 and stopped talking to the Egyptians

01:34 and also to the Qatari mediators.

01:37 And ultimately, it got all the way up to this weekend

01:40 when the US said, listen, this is the last deal

01:43 that's going to happen.

01:44 And it fell to the Emir of Qatar to talk to Hamas and say,

01:47 this is the final deal.

01:48 There will be nothing more after this.

01:50 And that is after the Israelis had looked over

01:51 the details of this deal.

01:53 Ultimately, it was accepted by Hamas

01:55 and then sent to the Israelis on Tuesday morning

01:58 when the Israelis had time to really mull it over.

02:01 And Netanyahu put it to the war cabinet once again

02:03 to finalize it.

02:04 It was obviously approved and sent to Qatar,

02:07 who then officially announced that it was happening.

02:09 And it was then that the United States government

02:11 finally said that they were happy this deal was happening.

02:14 Joe Biden saying, today's deal is a testament

02:17 to the tireless diplomacy and determination

02:19 of many dedicated individuals

02:20 across the United States government

02:22 bring Americans home just in time for Thanksgiving.

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