Talks in Doha on a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of Israeli hostages are in their ‘final stages‘, according to the BBC as key mediator Qatar says an agreement is ‘very close’
Some reports suggest Hamas has accepted the draft agreement in the Gaza Strip and the release of dozens of Israeli hostages. According to AFP who reported that that mediators spoke to reporters on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door talks, taking place in Doha, Qatar.
The information revealed by two officials involved in the talks could mean Palestinians may start returning to their homes and large amounts of vital aid could reach the population.
Two Palestinian sources said that Israel would release about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in the first stage of a Gaza truce deal in exchange for 33 hostages.
The deal is hoped to pave the way for a more enduring peace deal after 15 months of gruelling conflict in which an estimated 46,645 Palestinians have died with many more remain missing.

Qatar announced that obstacles to a deal between Israel and Hamas for a truce and hostage exchange had been overcome after months of stalled negotiations.
‘During the past months, there were underlying issues, major issues between the two parties unresolved,’ Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told a news conference.
‘These issues were resolved during the talks in the past couple of weeks, and therefore we have reached a point where the major issues that were preventing a deal from happening were addressed.’
The three-phase ceasefire agreement
The three-phase agreement for a ceasefire under discussion endorsed by the UN Security Council – would begin with the gradual release of 33 hostages over a six-week period, including women, children, older adults and wounded civilians in exchange for potentially hundreds of Palestinian women and children imprisoned by Israel.
Among the 33 would be five female Israeli soldiers, each of whom would be released in exchange for 50 Palestinian prisoners, including 30 who are serving life sentences.

During this first, 42-day phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from population centres, Palestinians would be allowed to start returning to their homes in northern Gaza and there would be a surge of humanitarian aid, with some 600 trucks entering each day.
The deal would allow Israel throughout the first phase to remain in control of the Philadelphi Corridor, the band of territory along Gaza’s border with Egypt, which Hamas had initially demanded Israel withdraw from.
But Israel would pull out from the Netzarim Corridor, a belt across central Gaza.
In the second phase, Hamas would release the remaining living captives, mainly male soldiers, in exchange for more prisoners and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, according to the draft agreement.
In a third phase, the bodies of remaining hostages would be returned in exchange for a three- to five-year reconstruction plan to be carried out in Gaza under international supervision.