Qatar urges ceasefire after Hamas 'positive response'

Qatar, a key mediator, has stressed the urgency of brokering a ceasefire in Gaza after Hamas showed a “positive response” to a proposal. But Israel has yet to weigh in as its military prepares an offensive on some of the territory’s most populated areas.

- SAM METZ JON

The prospect of an expanded assault on areas sheltering hundreds of thousands of civilians has sparked condemnation inside Israel and abroad. Most war-weary Palestinians see no place in Gaza as safe, not even declared humanitarian zones, after 22 months of war.

Many Israelis, who rallied in their hundreds of thousands on Sunday, fear the offensive will further endanger the remaining hostages in Gaza. Just 20 of the 50 remaining are thought to be alive.

“If this [ceasefire] proposal fails, the crisis will exacerbate,” Majed al-Ansari, a spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry, told journalists, adding they have yet to hear from Israel on it. Mr Ansari said Hamas had agreed to the terms under discussion. He declined to provide details but said the proposal was “almost identical” to one previously advanced by US envoy Steve Witkoff.

That US proposal was for a 60-day ceasefire, during which some of the remaining hostages would be released and the sides would negotiate a lasting ceasefire and the return of the rest. “If we get to a deal, it shouldn't be expected that it would be instantaneously implemented,” Mr Ansari said. “We're not there yet.”