A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
This is a crucial week in negotiations between Israel and Hamas.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Diplomats and officials from the U.S., Israel and Hamas are all in Qatar - not all sitting in the same room, but close by. After 15 months of war, they're trying to be creative in getting some kind of agreement. The goal is to end the fighting and secure the release of Israeli hostages before President-elect Trump takes office on January 20.
MARTÍNEZ: NPR's Daniel Estrin is on the line from Tel Aviv. So, Daniel, we mentioned people are trying to get creative here. How so?
DANIEL ESTRIN, BYLINE: Well, both the Biden administration and the incoming Trump administration are working together on this, which is unusual. And they both want the same thing - they want some kind of agreement before President Biden leaves office. Yesterday, Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu there is an immediate need for a deal. And we've heard Trump many times say if the hostages are not released by his inauguration, there will be, quote, "hell to pay." Biden's outgoing ambassador to Israel, Jack Lew, told me that Trump is driving the momentum here.
JACK LEW: I think there is a certain fear of the unknown, in terms of what the new administration will do and will say. And there's no daylight between, you know, the incoming administration and the outgoing administration, in terms of wanting a hostage deal now and pressing all parties to make the concessions that are appropriate to reach that.
ESTRIN: I spoke with an official with knowledge of the ongoing talks, who's not authorized to speak publicly but who said Trump's team has told Israel that by the inauguration, they want either a deal or a declaration of principles, which would be some kind of document that would, you know, lock the sides into a commitment toward a deal.
MARTÍNEZ: What would those principles be?
ESTRIN: We do know the basic framework of the deal, A. Hamas would release around 33 Israeli hostages. A Palestinian official tells NPR this morning that Israel is discussing the release of more than 1,000 Palestinian detainees, including 22 people serving life sentences in connection with deadly attacks on Israelis. And those prisoners would be presumably exiled to Turkey, Qatar or Egypt. And during all of this, there would be a six-week pause in fighting. There would be a surge of aid to Gaza and more talks about the other hostages and trying to end the war.
MARTÍNEZ: Daniel, there have been talks before. So what are the chances of this one actually succeeding?
ESTRIN: There is a lot of pressure on all the parties now to move forward. Qatar and Egypt, the two Arab mediators, want good relations with Trump, and so they're putting a lot of pressure on Hamas. A Hamas official not authorized to speak to the media told us that Hamas is trying to show flexibility, and that it's proposed several different ways to try to resolve the points of contention. As for Israel, there's a key ally of Prime Minister Netanyahu - the finance minister - who is staunchly opposed to the deal as it's coming out now. But Israel does have motivation to cooperate with Trump on this. Israel wants his help with a couple of big things. It wants Trump's help to pursue diplomatic relations with Saudi Arabia. And it also wants Trump to potentially support an attack on Iran's nuclear program.
So you do see that the talks have reached a crucial phase now. Israel's top security chiefs have traveled to Qatar this weekend to participate, and the president of the Red Cross has come to the region. The Red Cross was the group that facilitated the last hostage prisoner exchange.
MARTÍNEZ: That's NPR's Daniel Estrin in Tel Aviv. Daniel, thank you.
ESTRIN: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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