Nov. 21 (UPI) — Hamas is nearing a truce with Israel to halt the fighting in Gaza, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said Tuesday.
Haniyeh posted the comments on social media after Hamas had delivered a response to Qatari mediators who have been brokering negotiations involving the United States, Israel and Hamas for weeks, but gave no specifics.
“The movement delivered its response to the brothers in Qatar and the mediators and we are close to reaching a truce agreement,” Haniyeh said.
Israel has not made any corresponding official statement.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, another Hamas official, Ezzat el-Reshiq, said the negotiations were focusing on the duration of the truce, preparations to get aid into Gaza and swapping women and children being held by Hamas for women and child Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
The agreement which will also provide for transferring injured and sick in Gaza to third countries for medical care would be announced by Doha, according to el-Reshiq who complained negotiations had stretched out for so long because the Israeli side had been dragging its feet.
El-Reshiq also quashed doubts over whether Hamas’ political and military leadership in Gaza would be on the same page saying “we are always united whether it is on the battlefield or in making political decisions”.
Mousa Abu Marzouk, a founding member of Hamas, told CBS News Monday that negotiators were “close” to an agreement under which Hamas would release 50 hostages to secure a five-day cease-fire.
Israel would also release 100 Palestinian prisoners and cease all flight operations over the southern portion of Gaza during the cease-fire and also pause flights in northern Gaza to allow hostage transfers and delivery of humanitarian aid.
Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani also said the two sides were “close to reaching an agreement” as points of contention that remained were “very minor.”
White House deputy national security advisor Jon Finer told CBS News that “many areas of difference that previously existed” in the negotiations “have been narrowed.”
Earlier U.S. National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said negotiators were “getting close to the end” on the release of hostages but declined to offer up further details.
“I know that everybody’s interested in the numbers and who they’re going to be. We’re working that through literally in real-time with both sides. So, I think it’s better if I just don’t speculate about what that pool is going to look like,” Kirby told reporters Monday.
He said the administration was working especially hard to get American citizens released immediately but did not say whether any would be among those included in the truce agreement.
“Obviously, we are laser-focused on the American citizens that we know are being held hostage and we want them out, all of them, everybody should be out now,” Kirby said.
Asked whether he thought they were still alive, he said he had no reason to think otherwise.