Israel has given its consent to general provisions of a deal with Palestine's Hamas movement, drafted during the recent negotiations in Paris, Qatari Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said.
Besides, he said, Hamas also has given 'initial positive confirmation' to a proposal for the cessation of fighting in Gaza and the release of hostages.
TASS from Washington reports; Israel has given its consent to general provisions of a deal with Palestine's Hamas movement, drafted during the recent negotiations in Paris, Qatari Foreign Ministry's spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said.
"The meeting in Paris succeeded in consolidating their proposals on the table into one proposal. That proposal has been approved by the Israeli side and now we have an initial positive confirmation from the Hamas which also ordered framework," he told a seminar at the Johns Hopkins Foreign Policy Institute.
According to the diplomat, the proposals shaped by the mediators "will represent a general understanding of how the next parts of the coming humanitarian parts would look like."
He also emphasized that at this point, the parties to the conflict have been discussing via mediators the concept of the deal, but its details are yet to be coordinated.
"It does not include a lot of the details that still need to be discussed. But we are optimistic that we have now where it has eluded us for about two months now and you get to a point where both sides agree on the principles of how the policy is going to apply. They still a very tough road in front of us," al-Ansari said.
Ismail Haniyeh, the current chairman of Hamas's political bureau said that the movement "has received the proposal developed during the discussions in Paris and is currently studying it." At the same time, Haniyeh pointed out that the priority for Hamas in formulating a response to the Paris agreement remains "an immediate cessation of aggression" and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip. According to him, the movement is ready to consider only those initiatives that can ensure the fulfillment of these conditions.
CNN reported on January 29, citing a source, that talks in Paris involving Egypt, Israel, Qatar and the United States had produced a preliminary proposal for the release of the hostages. The first stage calls for a six-week pause in hostilities. During this period, each Hamas-held civilian would be exchanged for three Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. This ratio could be increased for the exchange of Israeli soldiers. The six-week truce could be followed by a longer pause, the TV channel said.
AFP from Washington adds; Hamas has given "initial positive confirmation" to a proposal for the cessation of fighting in Gaza and the release of hostages, Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday.
US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators met with Israeli intelligence officials in Paris on Sunday where they proposed a six-week pause in the Gaza war and a hostage-prisoner exchange for Hamas to review.
"That proposal has been approved by the Israeli side and now we have an initial positive confirmation from the Hamas' side," Majed al-Ansari told an audience at a Washington-based graduate school.
A source close to Hamas said, however, that there was still no consensus on the proposal.
"There is no agreement on the framework of the agreement yet... and the Qatari statement is rushed and not true," the source told AFP in Gaza.
The Qatari foreign ministry spokesman said there was "still a very tough road in front of us".
"We are optimistic because both sides now agreed to the premise that would lead to a next pause," said Ansari.
"We're hopeful that in the next couple of weeks, we'll be able to share good news about that," he added.
The Qatar-based leader of Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, was expected in Cairo on Thursday or Friday for talks on a proposed truce.
Previously, Qatar mediated a one-week break in fighting that began in November and led to the release of scores of Israeli and foreign hostages, as well as aid entering the besieged Palestinian territory.
The war was triggered by Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel, which resulted in the deaths of around 1,163 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on the latest official Israeli figures.
Hamas also seized about 250 hostages. Israel says 132 of them remain in Gaza including at least 27 people believed to have been killed.
Following the deadliest attack in Israel's history, its military launched a withering air, land and sea offensive that has killed at least 26,900 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory. A Hamas source told AFP the three-stage plan would start with an initial six-week halt to the fighting that would see more aid deliveries into the Gaza Strip.
Only "women, children and sick men over 60" held by Gaza Hamas would be freed during that stage in exchange for Palestinian prisoners in Israel, the source said, requesting anonymity due to the sensitivity of the talks.
There would also be "negotiations around the withdrawal of Israeli forces", with possible additional phases involving more hostage-prisoner exchanges, said the source, adding the territory's rebuilding was also among issues addressed by the deal.
