Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al Ansari said Thursday that Israel has "agreed to a cease-fire" and Hamas has “sent an initial positive response,” for a possible hostage release deal amid the war in Gaza following talks on the issue in a summit held in France on Monday.
Footage of Gazans in Rafah celebrating unofficial cease-fire
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Al Ansari noted, however, that the new deal's details have yet to be fully agreed on by both sides. "The basis of the deal lies upon the nature of the humanitarian pause in Gaza and work is continuing to finalize some details. We must push forward at once to end the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
“The two sides agreed on principles that could lead to the next pause in fighting and we hope the issue would be complete in several weeks,” he added.
Despite Al Ansari's announcement, however, an Israeli official said Israel has yet to receive an official update from Qatari sources regarding the deal.
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Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar
(Photo: Dana Kopel, Reuters)
Osama Hamdan, a senior Hamas official in Lebanon, said no hostage release deal has been made with Israel despite Qatari reports of progress on talks between the sides.
"There's no deal at this time, we are still in the beginning stages and can't talk about a deal yet," Hamdan told Arab news outlet Al Araby. "Several attempts to reach an agreement have been made, always foiled by the occupation."
Despite Hamas' evasive answer saying no concrete agreement on a new deal has been reached at this time, footage uploaded to social media networks late Thursday showed Gazans in Rafah celebrating the yet unofficial cease-fire after nearly four months of intense war in the Strip with calls of "Allahu Ackbar" and praises to Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif.