A temporary Gaza ceasefire deal is close to being finalised in talks between US and Hamas officials in Qatar, sources have told The National.
They said the agreement will provide for a 21-day truce and the initial release by Hamas of up to six hostages, in return for a number of Palestinians held in Israeli jails. It also provides for the resumption of aid relief into the enclave, two months after Israel halted the flow of life-saving supplies.
An Israeli delegation made up of officials from the Mossad spy agency, domestic intelligence service Shin Bet and the military was due in Cairo on Monday. They will discuss logistics for the resumption of aid and the arrival in Egypt of Palestinian detainees travelling on to live in exile in other countries, the sources said.
Hamas, in a goodwill gesture towards the US, was due to release dual US-Israeli soldier Edan Alexander later on Monday, a move the sources described as indicative of the progress made in the Hamas-US talks.
The reported progress comes a day before US President Donald Trump travels to the Middle East on a three-nation tour that will take him to Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE.
Mr Trump hailed the “monumental news” of Mr Alexander's release in a social media post, describing it as a “good faith gesture”.
“Hopefully this is the first of those final steps necessary to end this brutal conflict,” he added.
The sources said US mediators in Doha were considering demands by Hamas that the truce last for 70 days and that the Trump administration provide a written guarantee that negotiations for an end to the Gaza war and an Israeli withdrawal from the enclave would begin at a later stage.
“There has been considerable progress towards an agreement in direct negotiations between Hamas officials and US mediators led by Adam Boehler,” said one source, referring to the US envoy for hostage affairs.
“A deal may be announced within a day or a matter of hours,” they added.
Mr Boehler, who led the first known direct negotiations between the US and Hamas in March, is leading American mediators in the current talks in Doha, the sources said. The first meeting was on Sunday, when they held talks that lasted for more than three hours at a suburban hotel in the Qatari capital, they said.
Hamas is designated a terrorist group by the US, Israel and the EU. Israel insists it will not end the Gaza war before Hamas's military and governing capabilities are dismantled. For its part, Hamas has agreed to stay out of Gaza's postwar administration and reconstruction but it rejects Israel's demand that it lays down its arms.
Hamas, according to the sources, wanted seriously injured Palestinian civilians taken out of Gaza to receive treatment, as well as medical supplies for the group's wounded fighters and the remaining living hostages it is holding.
The Israeli military says Hamas is holding 59 hostages, of whom about 24 are believed to be still alive.
The Gaza war began in October 2023 after an attack by Hamas on southern Israel that killed 1,200. More than 52,800 Palestinians have been killed since then and more than twice that number wounded, health authorities in Gaza have said. Much of the enclave's built-up areas have been reduced to rubble in Israel's ground and aerial operations.
A 45-day truce brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar ended on March 1, but Gaza remained relatively quiet until March 18 when Israel resumed military operations.
