Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh told Reuters on Tuesday, the 21st of November, that the Palestinian militant group was close to reaching a ceasefire agreement with Israel. While US officials, including President Joe Biden, on Monday expressed optimism about an imminent deal, previous occasions have shown uncertainty in reaching an agreement, reports Reuters.
The statement to Reuters was brief, but a Hamas official told Al Jazeera television channel that the focus of the ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel was on the duration of the truce, the delivery of aid to Gaza and the exchange of hostages – Israeli hostages held in Gaza – for Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
Qatar is mediating the talks and will announce further details, the official said.
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) President Mirjana Spoljaric met with Haniyeh in Qatar on Monday to “address humanitarian issues related to the conflict”, reports Reuters. The ICRC said it was not directly involved in the talks but was ready to help with any further release agreed by the parties as a neutral mediator.
Israeli US ambassador Michael Herzog said on Sunday he hoped an agreement would be reached in the coming days, while the Qatari prime minister said there were few remaining issues to resolve.
According to Reuters White House Deputy National Security Adviser John Finer stressed the sensitivity of the ongoing negotiations on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, warning that agreements in this context are not finalised until all aspects are resolved.
Hamas took some 240 hostages on the 7th of October attack on Israel that killed 1200 people.
Reuters writes that since then, Israel has been bombing Gaza relentlessly,
with the Hamas-led government reporting that at least 13 300 Palestinians have been killed.
Hamas said on its Telegram account on Monday that it had fired rockets into Tel Aviv, with witnesses reporting that rockets were also being fired into central Israel.
Health facilities in northern Gaza, including the Indonesian hospital, have been disrupted by the conflict but are providing shelter for patients, staff, and displaced residents.
According to Reuters, the Gaza Hamas-run Health Ministry reported on Monday that at least 12 Palestinians were killed, and dozens injured in Israeli shelling of the Indonesian hospital, which was surrounded by Israeli tanks. The Israeli Defence Forces said it had responded to militants shooting from the hospital by taking measures to minimise harm to non-militants, but health officials said that 700 patients and staff were shot at and denied that there were militants present.
Reuters reports that twenty-eight premature babies from Gaza’s largest hospital, al-Shifa, were taken to Egyptian hospitals on Monday after Israeli forces took over al-Shifa hospital last week, claiming a Hamas network of tunnels under the hospital. According to the Israeli Defence Forces, the evidence they obtained suggests that Hamas used the hospital as a cover.
Read also: Borrell rejects the idea that Israel could take over Gaza after the war
Follow us on Facebook and X!