CAIRO, February 2. /TASS/. Talks on the multilateral initiative worked out at the Paris meeting must lead to the complete cessation to Israel’s aggression in the Gaza Strip, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the enclave and the completion of the hostage swap deal, Hamas said in a statement after talks between its leader Ismail Haniyeh and Islamic Jihad leader Ziyad al-Nakhalah.

According to the statement, the two leaders noted that "the consideration of the new ceasefire initiative is based on the assumption that any talks must lead to the complete cessation of the aggression, the withdrawal of occupational forces from the Gaza Strip, the lifting of the blockade, guarantees of the sector’s restoration, the implementation of the legal rights of the Palestinian people and the comprehensive completion of agreements on the exchange [of hostages for Palestinian prisoners]."

The AFP news agency reported on January 28 that US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director William Burns had held a meeting in Paris with representatives of Egypt, Israel and Qatar. NBC News, in turn, reported that the parties had agreed on the framework of a deal between Hamas and Israel, which provided for a phased exchange of hostages held by Hamas militants and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, as well as for pauses in fighting and humanitarian aid supplies to Gaza. On Tuesday, Hamas said it had received a proposal for a deal with Israel that had been hammered out at the Paris meeting.

According to later reports, Hamas agreed on a phased release of Palestinian prisoners and said it would not insist on the release of those sentences to long prison terms at the first stage. Hamas is reportedly studying the Paris initiative but has not yet decided whether to accept it or not.

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, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. 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. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.