A look at the latest Gaza ceasefire proposals as Netanyahu visits White House

Amna Nawaz:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is having dinner with President Trump tonight, his third visit to the White House this year. The two are meeting as Israel and Hamas are negotiating a cease-fire and the U.S. is lifting a terrorism designation on neighboring Syria.

Nick Schifrin's been covering all this for us. He joins us now.

So, Nick, give us the latest status on these Gaza cease-fire talks.

Nick Schifrin:

Israel and Hamas officials are back in Doha, and U.S. and Israeli officials tell me that the deal on the table is for cease-fire for 60 days.

Hamas had been demanding a formal end of the war but the officials tell me Hamas agreed to sit at the table in Doha thanks to two key adjustments, that first Hamas would stagger the release of 10 living Israeli hostages and the bodies of 18 deceased Israeli hostages so that the final release of Israeli hostages wouldn't be until day 50.

That's in response to Israel breaking the previous cease-fire deal. The second key adjustment is that, while the proposal does not guarantee the end of the war, what it does is provides personal guarantees from President Trump. The text includes the lines, President Trump guarantees Israeli compliance for the full duration and — quote — "The United States and President Trump are committed to working to ensure the negotiations continue in good faith until a final agreement is reached."

Finally, Israel would redeploy to buffer zones in Northern Gaza on day one, to Southern Gaza on day two, would release Palestinian detainees, and it would allow for a humanitarian surge both to the United Nations and the U.S.-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation.

Officials tell me that in Doha, last night's discussions, today's discussions, Amna, focused on the humanitarian deliveries and the withdrawal of Israeli troops. But a key announcement from the White House today, Steve Witkoff, the president's man on this, negotiations, will head to Doha.

That is a sign that U.S. officials tell me they are optimistic that even though Hamas publicly says it wants an official end of the war, Hamas is leaning toward finalizing this agreement.

Amna Nawaz:

So cease-fire talks sure to be high on the agenda. What else do we expect President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu to be discussing on this visit?

Nick Schifrin:

An official familiar tells me that not only will they discuss the cease-fire, but they will discuss the day after the war in Gaza. And, of course, the challenge there is immense. The U.N. estimates some 90 percent-plus of residential buildings have been damaged or destroyed and 1.9 million people — that's more than 90 percent of the population — have been displaced.

We also have seen Israeli strikes continue just overnight. Palestinians say a strike on a clinic sheltering the displaced in Gaza City, you see the aftermath there, killed at least six. The Israeli military says in total it struck about 130 sites related to Hamas just in the last few days.

And an official familiar tells me that on the one hand President Trump knows that in order to make progress on one of the key priorities that he has in the region, normalization agreements with Israel, Abraham Accords, that he needs to have the end of the war and some kind of day-after plan.

Netanyahu, though, has not articulated a plan, at least publicly, beyond destroying Hamas militarily, nor has he indicated a willingness to take the steps that Saudi Arabia is demanding he take in order to have those normalization talks, which is steps toward a Palestinian state. And a U.S. official who's skeptical of this deal does say there is no-day after plan and the war could very well resume.

However, other officials, including another U.S. official and a regional senior official, tell me that, no, Israel in private has indicated it's willing to take the steps that in public people are demanding it make and that it's up to President Trump at this point to decide how much pressure to put on Netanyahu in order to make these next steps.

Lastly, Amna, quickly, they will talk about Iran, of course, Netanyahu reiterating his concerns about diplomacy with Iran.

Amna Nawaz:

Meanwhile, today, the State Department, we saw, lifted a major terrorism designation on the Syrian group that now runs the government there. How big a deal is that?

Nick Schifrin:

Yes, that's HTS, Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham. The State Department declared today that it was no longer a foreign terrorist organization. Of course, HTS was once affiliated with al-Qaida, but broke with them before taking over Syria.

And the former head, you see right there, now, Ahmed al-Sharaa, is now, of course, the president of Syria. Today, Secretary of State Marco Rubio said he was lifting the designation because — quote — "the positive actions taken by the new Syrian government led by al-Sharaa."

Amna, analysts tell me that this is a significant step, especially as the U.S. plans other steps toward normalizing with Syria, but they don't expect any Syria-Israel normalization, more likely some kind of status of forces agreement in the coming months, where Israel would withdraw from Syrian territory.

Amna Nawaz:

Nick Schifrin, thank you, as always.

Nick Schifrin:

Thank you.