Negotiations, reportedly near completion, continue between Hamas and Israel
The Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement said Tuesday that a high-level delegation will arrive in the Qatari capital Doha to take part in finalizing the details of a potential cease-fire agreement in Gaza.
Earlier, the Palestinian group Hamas said a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner swap deal is in “its final stages.”
In a statement, it stressed the need “to continue consultations with Palestinian faction leaders until the agreement is finalized.”
Hamas said it held a series of consultations with faction leaders “to update them on the progress made in the ongoing negotiations in Doha.”
The faction leaders stressed the importance of “comprehensive national preparedness for the upcoming phase and its requirements.”
Qatar said Gaza cease-fire negotiations are in their “final details” and the announcement of an agreement is “imminent.”
“A draft agreement has been handed to both Hamas and Israel, and major obstacles on key contentious issues between the two sides have been addressed,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told a press conference in Doha.
Israel currently holds more than 10,300 Palestinian prisoners, while it is estimated that 98 Israelis are detained in Gaza. Hamas said that many Israeli captives have been killed in indiscriminate Israeli airstrikes.
The prisoner swap and cease-fire talks, mediated by Qatar, Egypt and the US, have been interrupted several times due to new conditions imposed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The Israeli opposition and families of captives accuse him of obstructing efforts to reach a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.
Israel has continued its war on Gaza, which has killed more than 46,600 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate cease-fire.
In November last year, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant over war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.
