Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said a Hamas response to a negotiated hostage deal was generally positive and a final deal could come soon.
“We are optimistic and we have delivered the response to the Israeli party,” said the Qatari leader, who is also the country’s foreign minister, at a press conference with Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
Blinken is in the
Middle East to shore up support for a negotiated deal that is expected to pause fighting between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas and see the exchange of prisoners and hostages.
Some 130 hostages remain in Gaza, but at least
32 of them have died, with another 20 also potentially killed, according to The New York Times.
A major sticking point between Hamas and Israel in the ongoing negotiations is over an extended
ceasefire.
Israel wants a temporary ceasefire in exchange for the rest of its prisoners, but Hamas wants a permanent ceasefire and an end to the war.
Hamas official
Mahmoud Mardawi said in a statement Tuesday on pro-Iranian Telegram channels that the group “will not move to another phase until our goals and demands are achieved.”
“We have previously and repeatedly stressed that we want a comprehensive ceasefire,” Mardawi said.
Blinken said Tuesday that “there’s a lot of work to be done to achieve” an agreement.
“We’re very focused on that work,” he said. “We’re going to be intensely focused on that.”
Read the full coverage of the Israel-Hamas war at TheHill.com.
