Israeli negotiators have "not been this close to an agreement" for the release of hostages in Gaza since the November 2023 truce in the war between Israel and Hamas, Defense Minister Israel Katz said on Monday.
"We have not been this close to an agreement on the hostages since the previous deal," Katz told members of the Israeli parliament's foreign affairs committee, according to his spokesman.
A senior Hamas official based in Doha also said that the negotiations were progressing.
"A deal for exchanging prisoners and ceasefire between the resistance and the occupation has actually become closer than ever before, if (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu does not intentionally disrupt the agreement as he has done every time before," he said on condition of anonymity, as he was not authorised to speak publicly on the matter.
He said Hamas had informed the Egyptian and Qatari mediators of its readiness to stop the war.
"But Hamas stressed at the same time that it will not accept anything less than an agreement that leads to a complete and permanent cessation of the war, a full withdrawal from the entire Gaza Strip, including the Philadelphi and Netzarim axes, the return of the displaced, and a serious prisoner exchange deal."
In November 2023, a one-week truce, the only one so far in the war triggered on October 7, 2023, by the unprecedented attack of the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israeli soil, led to the release of 105 hostages held in the Gaza Strip.
That release occurred as part of an exchange that secured the freedom of 240 Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons.
All mediation efforts led by Egypt, the United States, and Qatar since then to secure a new truce have failed.
In September, Qatar had announced it was suspending its efforts, blaming both sides for a lack of willingness to reach an agreement.
However, since Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election in early November, diplomatic efforts have resumed, now jointly mediated by Washington, Cairo, Doha and Ankara.
On Thursday, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan, during a visit to Israel, stated that he "had the sense" that Netanyahu was ready for a deal to secure the release of hostages.
With AFP
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