Israel And Hamas Closer To Ceasefire Deal Amid Warning Over Gaza Children

Israel and Hamas appear to be inching closer towards a deal for a ceasefire and a release of some of the hostages still being held by the militant group in Gaza, while the UN children’s agency has warned that 17,000 children have been left without families or been separated from them by the conflict.

Qatar, which has been mediating between Israel and Hamas, indicated that the militant group had given its initial support for a deal after weeks of delicate and secretive negotiations.

However, while an aide to Hamas’s political leader said the group had received details of the proposed deal, it had yet to reply.

A Qatari official later clarified to Reuters that there was “no deal yet” and that although “Hamas has received the proposal positively”, Qatar was “waiting for their response”.

Taher al-Nono, an adviser to the Qatar-based Hamas politburo chief, Ismail Haniyeh, said: “We cannot say the current stage of negotiation is zero and at the same time we cannot say that we have reached an agreement.”

Haniyeh was expected to travel to Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials on the issue of a ceasefire.

The latest movement on the talks came as an Israeli minister, Amichai Chikli, compared the UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, to Neville Chamberlain and accused him of “appeasement” for suggesting again that the UK could recognise Palestinian statehood after a Gaza ceasefire and before a final-status agreement.

The reported outline of the proposal envisages a lengthy ceasefire of about six weeks in which Palestinians in Gaza would be allowed to move around the strip freely, while hostages would be released in three phases in exchange for Palestinian prisoners being held in Israel.