Biden unveils major update in Gaza ceasefire talks… but says ‘I don’t want to jinx anything’

President Joe Biden on Friday provided a major update on the Gaza ceasefire negotiations.

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office after signing a proclamation designating the Springfield 1908 Race Riot a National Monument, he explained why he was late.

“I was concerned with the ceasefire in the Middle East,” the president said.

“We’re much closer than we’ve ever been,” he continued. “I don’t want to jinx anything. We may have something. But we’re not there yet. We’re much, much closer than we were three days ago.”

Biden added: “So keep your fingers crossed.”

He did not provide further details about the ongoing negotiations to end the war in Gaza.

A senior administration official said Friday afternoon that they are confident that a workable agreement has been reached for a hostage-taking ceasefire and that talks scheduled for next week in Egypt are aimed at concluding the deal.

“We will meet again at this level in Cairo before the end of next week with the aim of concluding this process once and for all,” the senior administration official said.

The framework builds on what Biden laid out in May, but negotiators from the US, Egypt and Qatar have filled in some missing pieces.

“It’s basically the May 27 text with some clarifications based on subsequent discussions and some details about implementation,” the senior administration official said. “So this is a comprehensive settlement. It’s been negotiated for months and we believe very strongly, and there is momentum in this process, to work toward bringing this to a conclusion.”

The official said a key reason for reaching the deal was to save the lives of Israeli hostages still being held in Gaza.

“We want to save the lives of hostages, get the hostages out of Gaza. And if you keep negotiating for months, trying to make a perfect deal, for every last drop of blood from the stone, you run the risk of not having any hostages left to save,” the official said.

“And that is not acceptable to us. I don’t think it is acceptable to anyone. It is not acceptable to the Israelis,” the source said.

Smoke billows over Gaza on Friday after an Israeli attack. The US, Egypt and Qatar met this week to work on a hostage-taking ceasefire deal, which they hope to finalize in Cairo next week.

Politically, Biden and former President Donald Trump agree that they want the war to end. Trump, however, has made it clear that he sides more with the Israelis.

During his lengthy news conference Thursday at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump said he last spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the leader’s visit to Mar-a-Lago in late July.

“He knows what he’s doing, I’ve been encouraging him to get this over with,” the Republican candidate said. “It’s got to be over quickly. … Take your victory and get it over with.”

“It has to stop, the killing has to stop,” Trump added.

Trump, however, was critical of the “ceasefire” talks, which have become a rallying cry on the political left.

“From the beginning, (Vice President Kamala) Harris has tried to strap Israel’s power behind his back by demanding an immediate ceasefire, and always asking for a ceasefire,” Trump said Thursday night at a rally focused on combating anti-Semitism.

He said a ceasefire “would only give Hamas time to regroup and launch another October 7-style attack.”

“I will give Israel the support it needs to win, but I want them to win quickly,” the ex-president added.

Harris has been openly critical of Israel’s killing of Palestinian civilians, but she has indicated in her campaign that she does not support an Israeli arms embargo, as some progressive Democrats do.

Both Biden and Harris have pushed for a ceasefire in Gaza for the hostages, which would stop the fighting and allow Israel to get back the hostages taken during the brutal Hamas terrorist attack on October 7.

The senior administration official said the work still needed to get the deal done would be “complicated” because there were many “moving parts.”

“But we are fully behind it. The president of the United States is fully behind it. His colleagues in the region are fully behind it. And we are going to do everything we can to bring this to an end, because the lives of the hostages really cannot wait any longer,” the official said.

“And we are confident that this deal will lead to relief for the citizens of Gaza while safeguarding Israel’s security interests,” the source added.