Israeli PM And Hamas Chief Say Deal On Hostages And Gaza Truce Is “Close”

In what are considered to be the most hopeful signs of a deal to halt hostilities and release prisoners, the leader of Hamas stated on Tuesday that a truce agreement with Israel was close, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressed his desire for positive news regarding hostages shortly.

According to a statement released by an aide to Reuters, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said that the organization was “close to reaching a truce agreement” with Israel and that it had given its response to Qatari mediators.

Mr. Netanyahu declared, “We are moving forward. Remarks provided by the Israeli prime minister’s office stated, “I hope there will be good news soon, but I don’t think it’s worth saying too much, not even at this moment.”

“In light of developments in the matter of the release of our hostages,” Mr. Netanyahu’s office announced that he would call a meeting of his war cabinet at 4 p.m. Irish time. The full cabinet and his larger security cabinet will then convene.

According to a source briefed on the talks, the long-awaited accord was “closer than it has ever been” and in its “final stages” and would witness the first truce of the war and the first widespread release of prisoners held by both sides.

‘Our closest yet’

A US official reiterated that, stating that it was the “closest we’ve been” to a hostage exchange. According to the first source, the agreement calls for a multi-day ceasefire in hostilities in addition to the release of about fifty civilian hostages held by Hamas and female and juvenile Palestinian detainees from Israeli custody.

Negotiations focused on the duration of the truce, plans for delivering aid to Gaza, and specifics of the captive exchange, a Hamas official told Al Jazeera TV. According to the spokesman, Issat el Reshiq, both parties would release women and children, and specifics would be disclosed by Qatar, which is mediating the talks. Unidentified officials were cited by Israel’s Channel 12 and Channel 13 TV stations as suggesting that the parameters of a deal might be finalized “within hours”.

Based on Israeli counts, Hamas killed 1,200 people on October 7th during its raid into Israel, during which it abducted roughly 240 hostages.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), situated in Geneva, released a statement stating that its president, Mirjana Spoljaric, met with Haniyeh on Monday in Qatar to “advance humanitarian issues” about the conflict. She also had a private meeting with Qatari officials.

While stating that it was not involved in talks to free the hostages, the ICRC stated that it was prepared “to facilitate any future release that the parties agree to” in its capacity as an impartial middleman.