CAIRO, January 30. /TASS/. Hamas has received a preliminary hostage release proposal, which was worked out during the talks involving Egypt, Israel, Qatar, and the United States in Paris, senior Hamas official Ismail Haniyeh said.

"Hamas has received a proposal that was laid down during the discussions in Paris and is now examining it," he was quoted as saying on Hamas’ Telegram channel.

According to Haniyeh, Hamas’ priorities in its response to the Paris agreement are the "immediate termination of the aggression" and the "withdrawal of occupational forces outside the Gaza Strip." He stressed that Hamas would consider only those initiatives that ensure these conditions are met.

He thanked Egypt and Qatar "for the role they played during the talks on a lasting ceasefire in Gaza" and added that the movement’s leaders would discuss the Paris deal in Cairo, not specifying, however, when this would happen.

Earlier, CNN reported, citing a source, that Egyptian intelligence had allegedly handed over to Hamas the preliminary hostage release proposal hammered out during the January 28 meeting of the Egyptian, Israeli, and US intelligence chiefs and the Qatari prime minister in Paris. The television channel noted that although the negotiators had reached a general consensus it would be no easy task to agree on the concrete details of the deal. Under the preliminary conditions, the first stage of the deal envisages a six-day ceasefire where each civilian held by Hamas is to be exchanged for three Palestinian prisoners. This ratio may be changed in swaps for Israeli military personnel. The six-day ceasefire may be followed by a longer pause.

Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 240 Israelis. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

In late November 2023, Hamas announced an agreement with Israel, which was brokered by Egypt and Qatar, on a four-day humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip, which took effect on November 24. The deal stipulated the release of Israeli women and children being held hostage in Gaza in exchange for the release of Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons. The sides extended the ceasefire several times but on the morning of December 1 the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that Hamas had violated the truce in Gaza and opened fire on Israeli territory, thus prompting the IDF to resume combat operations in the Gaza Strip.