WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – Hamas made a pretty significant adjustment in its position over a potential hostage release deal with Israel, a senior U.S. administration official said yesterday, expressing hope that it would lead to a pact that would be a step to a permanent ceasefire.
“We’ve had a breakthrough,” the official told reporters on a conference call, adding there were still outstanding issues related to implementation of the agreement and that a deal was not expected to be closed in a period of days.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. President Joe Biden on Thursday he has decided to send a delegation to resume stalled negotiations on a hostage release deal with Hamas.
The U.S. official said Biden was encouraged that Netanyahu was authorizing his team to join the talks.
