Gaza ceasefire talks being held in Cairo have moved up a gear, with US President Donald Trump saying an agreement could be reached within a week and mediator Qatar speaking of a window of opportunity that should be seized.
Speaking from the Oval Office during the signing on Friday of a peace accord between the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda, Mr Trump said he had spoken earlier with people involved in brokering the previous truce in the 20-month Israel-Gaza war.
“We think within the next week, we're going to get a ceasefire,” he said without elaborating.
In Qatar, which has been mediating in the conflict together with the US and Egypt, Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed Al Ansari said negotiators are engaging with Israel and Hamas to build on momentum from this week’s Israel-Iran ceasefire and work towards a Gaza truce and the release of hostages held by Hamas-led groups.
“If we don’t utilise this window of opportunity and this momentum, it’s an opportunity lost among many in the near past. We don’t want to see that again,” he told AFP in an interview.
"We have seen US pressure and what it can accomplish," he said, referring to a truce agreed in January.
The US, Qatar and Egypt have been trying to broker a new ceasefire after that truce collapsed on March 18 when Israel resumed military operations, two weeks after it ordered a halt to relief aid entering the coastal strip where hundreds of thousands are facing hunger and shortages of basic items.
Mr Trump did not explain why he was optimistic about reaching a truce soon. The US has said several times previously that a deal was within reach, only for the talks to reach a deadlock as both Israel and Hamas stuck to their conditions.
Sources familiar with the peace effort in Cairo told The National that the talks have gathered pace in recent days, with US envoy Bishara Bahbah, a Palestinian-American, engaging in intense conversations with the Egyptian mediators and senior Hamas officials who have been in Cairo since Monday.
Mr Trump's Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff is expected in the region early next week, when he will visit Egypt, Israel and Qatar, according to the sources.
A mid-level Israeli official was in Cairo earlier this week and senior negotiators from the Mossad spy agency and military were expected soon, the sources said. There has been no confirmation of this yet from the Israeli government.
The sources told The National earlier this week that the proposals on the table to pause the war and secure the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza were not significantly different from those discussed in previous rounds.
The current discussions are centred on modifying those proposals to provide for a "comprehensive accord" to be negotiated during a proposed 60-day truce, which includes a long-term ceasefire and Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, they said on Saturday.
However, Israel remained reluctant to agree to anything beyond a temporary truce and the release of all the hostages, they said.
Additionally, Israel continues to demand a security presence in Gaza as well as the complete dismantling of Hamas's military and governing capacities.
Hamas has shown some flexibility over the timeline for the initial release of 10 living hostages and the remains of half of those who died while in captivity, as provided for in the proposals, said the sources.
Hamas still holds about 50 hostages, of whom 20 are believed to be alive, according to Israel's military.
Hamas had previously said it wanted to stagger the release of the 10 living hostages over the 60-day truce to ensure Israel's compliance with the deal. Israel rejected this, insisting all 10 must be freed the day the truce goes into effect.
Hamas also wants Israel to remove its troops from designated land corridors for the delivery and distribution of aid to Gazans, the sources said.
It also insists that a proposed commission of independent Palestinian technocrats start running the war-battered enclave the day the truce goes into force.
The sources said proposals for Hamas to lay down its arms and keep them in storage, as well as the departure from Gaza of senior Hamas officials to live in exile, are still on the negotiating table.
The group is open to both conditions, but categorically refusing to disarm, and will agree to the exile of some of its leaders only if Israel guarantees not to target them.
The Gaza war began when Hamas-led militants attacked southern Israeli communities, killing about 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage. Israel responded with a devastating military campaign that has killed more that 56,000 Palestinians and wounded more than twice that number, according to authorities in Gaza.
The fighting has also displaced most of the territory's 2.3 million residents and reduced much of its built-up area to rubble.
