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Hamas confirms that Gaza talks enter final stage

The radicals said that they were "satisfied with the progress in consultations" in the Qatari capital and believed that a certain stride forward had been made

CAIRO, January 14. /TASS/. The talks on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, currently underway in Doha, are nearing the conclusion of a deal, the Palestinian Hamas movement has said.

"The movement's leadership deems it necessary to continue the ceasefire and prisoner exchange talks, which have reached the final stage and will hopefully culminate in the signing of a comprehensive and clear agreement," the statement uploaded to Hamas' official Telegram channel said. The radicals added that they were "satisfied with the progress in consultations" in the Qatari capital and believed that a certain stride forward had been made.

Earlier, the Qatari Foreign Ministry issued a similar statement.

The day before, the Egyptian TV channel Al-Qahira Al-Ekhbariya said that according to its sources, the negotiators would hold several more meetings in Cairo after the conclusion of the current round in Doha.

Doha talks

On January 13, Reuters reported that US President-elect Donald Trump's future special envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, White House National Security Council coordinator for the Middle East and North Africa Brett McGurk, as well as the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence service David Barnea and Israel's security agency Shabak chief Ronen Bar will take part in the talks in the Qatari capital on Tuesday.

According to the Al-Hadath TV channel, if a deal is reached, the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip will take effect no earlier than January 22. Israel, the broadcaster said, has handed the mediators a list of Palestinian prisoners it could release as part of the agreement, but it does not include one of the leaders of the Palestinian Fatah movement, Marwan Barghouti, whose release from an Israeli prison was among the conditions Hamas had previously put forward.

Al-Hadath also claimed that the draft ceasefire agreement in Gaza involved two phases, each lasting 42 days. One of the main challenges to the negotiators was Israel's intention to establish a two-kilometer wide buffer zone in the north and east of the Gaza Strip, sources told the TV channel.