Qatar says Gaza talks in 'final stages', deal possible 'very soon'

DOHA, Qatar: Negotiations in Doha for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal were in their “final stages”, mediator Qatar’s foreign ministry said on Tuesday.

“We do believe that we are at the final stages… certainly we are hopeful that this would lead very soon to an agreement,” foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told a news conference, adding that “until there is an announcement… we shouldn’t be over-excited about what’s happening right now”.

Qatar says Gaza truce talks in ‘final stages’

Key mediator Qatar said negotiations for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal were in their “final stages” on Tuesday, adding that it was hopeful an agreement could be reached “very soon”.

Qatar, Egypt and the United States have stepped up efforts to broker a ceasefire to enable the release of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.

On Monday, US President Joe Biden said a deal was “on the brink” of being finalised, just days before the inauguration of his successor, Donald Trump.

On Tuesday, Qatar foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said negotiations were in their “final stages”.

“We do believe that we are at the final stages… certainly we are hopeful that this would lead very soon to an agreement,” Ansari said, adding “until there is an announcement… we shouldn’t be over-excited about what’s happening right now”.

“We have reached a point where the major issues that were preventing a deal from happening were addressed,” he told a news conference.

Militants also took 251 people hostage, 94 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.

Israel’s subsequent war on Gaza has killed 46,645 people, most of them civilians, according to the figures health ministry in the territory that the UN considers reliable.

A source briefed on the Doha negotiations said earlier the heads of Israel’s intelligence agencies, the Middle East envoys for the incoming and outgoing US administrations and Qatar’s prime minister had been due at the talks.

“Mediators will hold separate talks with Hamas,” the source said.

Qatar said later the talks were being held at the “highest level”.

Sources close to the talks and Israeli media said the first phase of a deal would see 33 Israeli hostages released, while two Palestinian sources close to Hamas told AFP that Israel would release about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange.

An Israeli government official said that several hundred Palestinians will be released as part of the first phase of the deal.

Israeli media also reported on Tuesday that under the proposed deal, Israel would be allowed to maintain a buffer zone inside Gaza during the implementation of the first phase.

On Monday, White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said a truce deal could be finalised this week.