Hamas announced this Tuesday that it is “getting closer to concluding a truce agreement” in the Gaza Strip, declared the leader of the Palestinian Islamist movement, Ismail Haniyeh.
“The movement (Hamas) gave its response to the Qatari brothers and the mediators. We are getting closer to concluding a truce agreement”, said Haniyeh, quoted in a brief message published on the Palestinian movement’s account on the Telegram platform, according to to Lusa.
According to sources from Hamas and Islamic Jihad, the second largest Palestinian armed Islamist group, cited by France-Presse (AFP), the two movements have accepted an agreement and the details are expected to be announced by Qatar and the conflict mediators.
The Israeli government has not yet reacted to these statements.
The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mirjana Spoljaric, met on Monday night with the leaders of Qatar and with Haniyeh, who is based in this Gulf emirate, to “advance the humanitarian issues linked to the armed conflict in Israel and Gaza.”
Qatar, Egypt and the United States are working on an agreement to try to free the approximately 240 hostages kidnapped in Israel by Hamas in exchange for a truce in the Gaza Strip.