Getty ImagesNegotiators from Israel and Hamas are making a final push to seal a Gaza ceasefire in Doha, with all sides suggesting an agreement is almost done.
There were reports of a breakthrough on Wednesday, with unnamed Israeli officials cited as saying that Hamas had agreed to the latest draft presented by Qatari, US and Egyptian mediators.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office however swiftly denied the reports. There was also no immediate comment from the Palestinian armed group.
On Tuesday night, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said both sides were “on the brink” of an agreement and awaiting “final word from Hamas”.
A senior Hamas official later told Reuters news agency it had not delivered its official response to the draft because Israel had yet to submit maps showing how its troops would withdraw from areas of Gaza.
However, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper cited an Israeli source as denying Hamas’s claim about the maps.
The proposed three-phase deal would begin with an initial six-week ceasefire.
A Palestinian official told the BBC that Hamas would release three hostages on the first day of a deal, after which Israel would begin withdrawing troops from populated areas.
More hostage releases would then be staggered over the following weeks, he said, with Israel allowing displaced residents to return in northern areas.
Israel has said it expects 33 hostages to be released in the first phase and that it will free a yet to be determined number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails in return.
Negotiations for the second phase – which should see the remaining hostages released, a full Israeli troop withdrawal and a “sustainable calm” – would start after two weeks.
Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesman said on Tuesday that there were no major issues were blocking a deal and that he was hopeful the talks would “very soon lead to an agreement”.
However, he also warned that that “the most minor detail” could yet undermine the process.
The Israeli military launched a campaign to destroy Hamas in response to the group’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, in which about 1,200 people were killed and 251 others were taken hostage.
More than 46,700 people have been killed in Gaza since then, according to the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry. Most of the 2.3 million population has also been displaced, there is widespread destruction, and there are severe shortages of food, fuel, medicine and shelter due to an struggle to get aid to those in need.
Israel says 94 of the hostages are still being held by Hamas, of whom 34 are presumed dead. In addition, there are four Israelis who were abducted before the war, two of whom are dead.
Relatives of the remaining hostages have urged the Israeli government to do whatever it takes to get a deal over the line and bring all of them home.
“We can’t miss this moment. This is the last moment; we can save them,” said Hadas Kalderon, the wife of Ofer Kalderon, a 54-year-old.
Palestinians also dared to hope that an end to the devastating 15-month war was close.
“We are waiting for the ceasefire and the truce. May God complete it for us in goodness, bless us with peace, and allow us to return to our homes,” said Amal Saleh, 54, told Reuters news agency.
“Even if the schools are bombed, destroyed, and ruined, we just want to know that we are finally living in peace.”
ReutersThere has been no let-up in the intensity of the war as the negotiations have continued.
The Israeli military said on Wednesday morning that it had carried out strikes on more than 50 targets across the territory in the past day.
Gaza’s health ministry said at least 62 people had been killed over the same period.
Overnight, a strike on a home in the central town in Deir al-Balah killed 11 people, including four children, the Civil Defence agency told AFP news agency.
As she picked through the rubble of the destroyed building, Kifaya Shaqoura said the dead included her uncle and aunt, their children and their grandchildren.
“People are waiting for them to announce a truce. But, unfortunately, we woke up with… the news that they’ve become martyrs. What can we say?”
Another seven people were reportedly killed in a strike on a school being used as a shelter for displaced families to the north in Gaza City.
The Israeli military said it targeted a “terrorist who served in a central position” who was at a school in the city, and that it had also carried out strikes on Hamas operatives in Deir al-Balah and the southern city of Khan Younis.
It added that steps had been taken to mitigate harm to civilians and accused Hamas of exploiting civilian structures for military purposes.
