The chief of Hamas told Reuters on Tuesday that the Palestinian militant group was near a truce agreement with Israel, even as the IDF operation on Gaza continued and rockets were being fired into Israel.
Follow Israel Hayom on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram
Hamas officials are "close to reaching a truce agreement" with Israel and the group has delivered its response to Qatari mediators, Ismail Haniyeh said in a statement sent to Reuters by his aide.
Video: Weapons found at Shifa Hospital / Credit: X/@IDF
The statement gave no more details, but a Hamas official told Al-Jazeera that negotiations were centered on how long the truce would last, arrangements for delivery of aid into Gaza, and the exchange of Israeli hostages held by Hamas for Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
Both sides would free women and children and details will be announced by Qatar, which is mediating in the negotiations, said the official, Issat el Reshiq.
Hamas took about 240 hostages during its Oct. 7 rampage into Israel in which its terrorists murdered 1,200 people.
Mirjana Spoljaric, president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), met Haniyeh in Qatar on Monday to "advance humanitarian issues" related to the conflict, the Geneva-based ICRC said in a statement. She also met separately with Qatari authorities.
The ICRC said it was not part of negotiations aimed at releasing the hostages, but as a neutral intermediary it was ready "to facilitate any future release that the parties agree to."
Talk of an imminent hostage deal has swirled for days. Reuters reported last week that Qatari mediators were seeking a deal for Hamas and Israel to exchange 50 hostages in return for a three-day ceasefire that would boost emergency aid shipments to Gaza civilians, citing an official briefed on the talks.
Israeli Ambassador to the United States Michael Herzog said on ABC's "This Week" on Sunday that he hoped for an agreement "in the coming days" while Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said that the remaining sticking points were "very minor."
US President Joe Biden and other US officials said on Monday a deal was near, but an agreement has appeared close before.
"Sensitive negotiations like this can fall apart at the last minute," White House deputy national security advisor Jon Finer told NBC's "Meet the Press" program on Sunday. "Nothing is agreed until everything is agreed."
Hamas' raid on Oct. 7, the deadliest day in Israel's 75-year-old history, prompted Israel to invade the Palestinian territory to target Hamas.
Twenty-eight prematurely born babies evacuated from Gaza's biggest hospital, Al Shifa, were taken into Egypt for urgent treatment on Monday.
Israeli forces seized Shifa last week to search for a tunnel network they said was built by Hamas beneath the hospital. Hundreds of patients, medical staff, and displaced people left Shifa at the weekend, with doctors saying they were ejected by troops and Israel saying the departures were voluntary.
Subscribe to Israel Hayom's daily newsletter and never miss our top stories!
