Gaza ceasefire talks resume in Doha, deal seen close after 'breakthrough'
World
Gaza ceasefire talks resume in Doha, deal seen close after 'breakthrough'
DOHA/CAIRO/JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Negotiators were meeting in Qatar on Tuesday hoping to finalise details of a plan to end the war in Gaza, after US President Joe Biden indicated a ceasefire and hostage release deal was imminent.
Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari told a news conference that talks on the final details were underway and this was the closest point to a deal reached over the past months.
Hamas said the talks had reached the final steps and that it hoped this round of negotiations would lead to a deal. A Palestinian source close to the talks told Reuters he expected the deal to be finalised on Tuesday if "all goes well".
An Israeli official talks had reached a critical phase although some details needed to be hammered out: "We are close, we are not there yet".
Qatari mediators had given Israel and Hamas a final draft of a text for a ceasefire and release of hostages agreement on Monday, an official briefed on the negotiations said, after what he described as a midnight breakthrough in talks in Doha.
US President-elect Donald Trump's incoming Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and Biden's envoy Brett McGurk have both attended the talks hosted by Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani. Israel is represented by David Barnea, director of spy service Mossad, and Ronen Bar, director of the Shin Bet internal security agency.
"The deal ... would free the hostages, halt the fighting, provide security to Israel and allow us to significantly surge humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started," Biden said on Monday.
If successful, the phased ceasefire - capping over a year of start-and-stop talks - could halt fighting that has left Gaza in ruins, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, made most of Gaza's population homeless and is still killing dozens a day.
That in turn could ease tensions across the wider Middle East, where the war has fuelled conflict in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and raised fears of all-out war between Israel and Iran.
Israel would recover hostages from among around 100 who still remain in captivity from the Oct. 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas that precipitated the war, in return for freeing Palestinian detainees.
