Hopes rise that ceasefire-for-hostages deal in Gaza could be done within days

The pace of talks aimed at securing a ceasefire-for-hostages agreement in Gaza appear to be accelerating, amid claims that a deal may be within reach, perhaps within days.

- Peter Beaumont

Senior Israeli officials, Hamas sources, and US and Arab officials have all expressed optimism that a deal may be close for a phased release of the surviving hostages in Gaza in exchange for a ceasefire and the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails.

About 60 living hostages, mainly Israeli and dual nationals, are believed to be still held in Gaza as well as the bodies of 35 others, out of more than 240 who were abducted to Gaza during Hamas's surprise attack on Israel on 7 October 2023.

Yesterday an Israeli negotiating team travelled to Qatar while a report from Reuters - denied by his office and Egypt - said that the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, was planning to travel to Cairo for talks.

Instead, Netanyahu's office said he had toured a buffer zone inside Syria that was recently seized by Israeli forces after the fall of the president, Bashar al-Assad.

Two Egyptian security sources added, however, that Netanyahu was not in Cairo "at this moment" but that a meeting was under way to work through the remaining points - chief among them a Hamas demand for guarantees that any immediate deal would lead to a comprehensive agreement later.