Tel Aviv/Beirut, 14 January 2025 (dpa/MIA) - Mediator Qatar said on Tuesday that a Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas is closer than at any time in the past, as the Israelis also expressed optimism over the release of hostages.

Israel's war on Gaza - sparked by an unprecedented terrorist attack by Islamists Hamas on the Jewish state in October 2023 - has led to the deaths of more than 46,000 people in the coastal strip, according to the Hamas-controlled health authority.

Negotiations between the sides in the Qatari capital Doha have rumbled on for months and Israel says plans for a ceasefire initially limited to 42 days are close to being agreed, along with 33 hostages being returned in a first wave.

Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari was more cautious but told a news briefing in Doha: "We do believe we are at a developed stage, we do believe we are at a final stage, but obviously until there is an announcement, there will be no announcement.

"Therefore we shouldn’t be overexcited about what’s happening right now," he adding while saying: "But certainly we are hopeful."

Al-Ansari said all the main issues have been "ironed out" and drafts of an agreement had been given to both sides.

"We do believe that we were able, through negotiations and through our partners in Egypt and the United States, to minimize a lot of the disagreements between both parties. The talks that are ongoing now are on the final details of reaching an agreement," he said.

He stressed that the war should have been over a long time ago, amid plans for negotiations on a second phase of a possible peace deal to begin on the 16th day of a ceasefire.

"The humanitarian cost of the ongoing war is unbearable and it continues to be unbearable for the people of Gaza and for the security and stability of this region," al-Ansari said.

Israel hoping for good news on hostages

He spoke as the Hamas-led health authority in Gaza said Israeli attacks claimed the lives of 61 people and injured more than 280 over the past 24 hours. This would mean more than 110,000 have been injured in the strip during the war alongside the over 46,000 killed.

The October 7, 2023 Hamas atrocity led to 1,200 people being killed in southern Israel and around 250 being abducted to Gaza.

Hamas released 105 hostages, including from previous operations, during a temporary ceasefire at the end of November 2023. In return, Israel let 240 Palestinian prisoners from its jails go, but there has only been a trickle of releases from both sides since.

An Israeli government spokesman said there was now hope of a rapid conclusion to the indirect negotiations with Hamas on the release of hostages and the freeing of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

"We are really hoping that we will soon be able to announce good news," he said. "We are close, but not yet at the conclusion."

He pointed to important progress over recent weeks and days in particular, with Hamas showing greater seriousness than previously. The talks in Doha were in a "critical time window," he said.

The spokesman said conditions had changed in Israel's favour since the killing of Hamas' leader in Gaza, Yehya al-Sinwar, on October 16, along with the weakening of the Iranian axis in the region.

The population of the Gaza Strip was also generating pressure for an end to the war, the Israeli spokesman said, pointing to "optimal conditions for a deal" given the changes in the Middle East.

The aim of the talks is to get all remaining 98 hostages back but 33 "humanitarian cases" were being looked at first, the spokesman added. These are women, children, people over 50 and injured and sick hostages. It is assumed that most of them are alive.

In return, "hundreds of terrorists" were to be released, he said, although those seen as murderers cannot return to the West Bank. The exact number of prisoners to be released will only become clear when Hamas announces how many of the hostages are alive.

"We will not leave the Gaza Strip until all the hostages are back home," the Israeli spokesman added.

Even after a ceasefire, Israeli soldiers would remain in a buffer zone on the edge of the Gaza Strip to ensure the security of Israeli border towns, he said.

Netanyahu risks resignations

But a deal is not universally popular in Israel.

Far-right Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir threatened on Tuesday to resign from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government in the event of an agreement.

In a post on X, Ben-Gvir called on Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich to join him in opposing "the terrible deal being set up."

Netanyahu needed to be informed decisively "that we will leave the government if the deal is concluded," Ben-Gvir demanded.

But he added he would not seek to topple the government.

MIA file photo