“Israel’s acceptance of the terms of a hostage deal with Hamas late on Tuesday reflected the intense pressure brought by the Biden administration to reach an agreement that would free some of those held by the armed group and produce potential longer-term opportunities to de-escalate the conflict,” the New York Times reports.
“The initial approval of the deal by the Israeli cabinet came after a ‘secret cell’ of top aides to President Biden worked furiously over the past several weeks on a web of negotiations involving Qatar, Egypt and Israel, an effort hampered by communications outages in Gaza and a series of last-minute disputes that derailed the talks.”
Politico: Biden administration officials see proof their strategy is working in hostage deal.
