Rushdi Abualouf
BBC Gaza correspondent
Reporting fromIstanbul
David Gritten
BBC News
Reporting fromLondon
Getty Images
Qatar says it is hopeful that a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal could be agreed “very soon”, with negotiators from Israel and Hamas beginning a “final stage” of indirect talks in Doha.
Foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told reporters that major issues had been resolved in recent weeks and that drafts of a possible deal had been handed over to both sides.
However, he cautioned that “the most minor detail” could yet undermine the process, as has happened in the past during the 15-month war.
Hamas’s leaders expressed their satisfaction with the course of the negotiations. An Israeli official said there had been real progress, but stressed that “it’s not there yet”.
Under the proposed plan, during an initial six-week truce, Israeli hostages held by Hamas in Gaza would be exchanged at regular intervals for Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel.
On Monday night, US President Joe Biden said a three-phase proposal based on what he had outlined last May was “on the brink” of finally coming to fruition.
There is new pressure for a deal, with Biden in his final week in office and President-elect Donald Trump warning that “all hell will break out” if the hostages are not released before his inauguration on Monday.
Israel launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s 7 October 2023 attack, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 46,640 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. Most of the 2.3 million population has also been displaced, there is widespread destruction, and there are severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter due to an struggle to get aid to those in need.
Israel says 94 of the hostages are still being held by Hamas, of whom 34 are presumed dead. In addition, there are four Israelis who were abducted before the war, two of whom are dead.
Reuters
A structure symbolising a Hamas tunnel where Israeli hostages have been held has been constructed at “Hostages Square” in Tel Aviv
Qatar, Egypt and the US have for months been trying to broker a deal that would stop the fighting, secure the return of the remaining hostages, and allow a surge in humanitarian aid deliveries to Gaza.
Majed al-Ansari told a news conference in Doha on Tuesday that high-level talks on the final details were taking place there, describing them as “positive and productive”.
He said mediators had delivered a draft proposal to the Israeli and Hamas negotiating teams and were hopeful that the talks “could lead very soon to an agreement”.
“During the past months there were underlying issues, major issues, between the two parties that were unresolved. These issues were resolved during the past couple of weeks,” he said.
However, he also urged people not to get “over-excited” until there was a formal announcement.
Although the underlying issues had been ironed out, he said, “this doesn’t mean the deal is a reality”. “We might be lost in the details, as was the case in the past,” he added.
An Israeli government official told the BBC that “real progress” had been made in recent days, saying
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