Hamas says Gaza cease-fire talks in Doha ‘positive’

GAZA CITY, Palestine

Palestinian resistance group Hamas said Tuesday that talks in the Qatari capital Doha to reach a cease-fire and prisoner swap deal with Israel were “positive and serious.”

“Reaching a cease-fire and prisoner exchange agreement is possible if the (Israeli) occupation stops imposing new conditions,” it added in a brief statement.

Egyptian media earlier reported “intensive efforts” by Egypt and Qatar to reach a Gaza cease-fire and prisoner swap deal between Hamas and Israel.

On Monday, Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that a cease-fire and prisoner swap deal was about to be reached with Hamas.

​​​​​​​"We are closer than ever to a significant deal,” Army Radio quoted Katz as saying during a closed meeting of the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee.

In recent days, Israeli media have reported "progress" in indirect negotiations with Hamas aimed at reaching an agreement.

An Israeli delegation from the foreign intelligence agency (Mossad) and the General Security Service (Shin Bet) is currently in Qatar to push forward a hostage swap deal with the Hamas movement, Israeli Channel 14 reported Tuesday evening.

The channel quoted an unnamed Israeli source familiar with the matter as saying: "Israel is indeed close to a deal for the release of the hostages, but it may take a few weeks rather than just days."

As of yet, Qatar has issued no statement on the indirect negotiations between Hamas and Israel.

Israel, which according to prisoners’ groups has over 10,000 Palestinians in its prisons, estimates that there are around 100 Israeli captives in Gaza. Hamas says that 33 Israeli captives had been killed in indiscriminate Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.

Mediation efforts led by the US, Egypt, and Qatar to reach a cease-fire in Gaza have so far failed due to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s refusal to halt the war.

Israel has continued a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 45,000 people, most of them women and children, since a Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023.

Last month, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

​​​​​​​Israel is also facing a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala in Istanbul