DOHA, April 27. /TASS/. Qatar notes certain progress toward bringing Israel and Hamas’ positions on a Gaza ceasefire agreement closer, Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said.
"On Thursday (April 24 - TASS) we noted certain progress in [the process of bringing closer] the parties’ positions on the ceasefire talks," he said, adding that Qatar continues efforts to make the parties return to the Gaza ceasefire agreement and wants this agreement to be "comprehensive, not phased."
Commenting of the parties’ positions, he said that "Hamas is ready to release all the hostages in exchange for prisoners" if Israel observes all the conditions. "Israel wants all the hostages to be released without any prospects for ending the war in Gaza," he noted.
Israel and Hamas agreed on the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip and a ceasefire in the enclave on January 15. The three-stage agreement came into effect on January 19. Its first phase ended on March 1. During the first phase, the sides were supposed to reach an agreement on the implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire but they failed to do this.
On March 18, Israel resumed hostilities in the Gaza Strip and delivered a series of strikes on Hamas targets, thus cutting short the ceasefire that had been in place in the enclave since January 2025. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office explained the move by Hamas' rejections of proposals advanced after talks with US envoy Steve Witkoff. It claimed that the goal of the operation was to release all of the Israeli hostages. Hamas placed responsibility for this latest spiral of escalation in Gaza on Israel and the United States.
According to the latest data from the Israeli side, Hamas and its allies are still holding 59 hostages in the Gaza Strip.