Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the Palestinian resistance group Hamas, confirmed Tuesday that they were close to reaching a truce with Israel.
"The movement has submitted its response to the brothers in Qatar and the mediators, and we are approaching a truce agreement," Haniyeh said on Telegram without providing further details.
It is worth noting that several relatives of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas withdrew from a meeting with members of the Israeli government Monday evening.
Israeli daily Haaretz reported that "many relatives of Israelis held hostage by Hamas in Gaza withdrew from a meeting with members of the war government Monday, expressing disappointment when told that the goals of freeing the hostages and overthrowing Hamas are equally important."
In Qatar, Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari told reporters: "We are at the closest point we ever had been in reaching an agreement."
"We're very optimistic, very hopeful," he added.
But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has vowed to destroy Hamas, kept tightlipped after meeting families of some of the 240 hostages late on Monday.
Hopes of a breakthrough have been mounting since Qatar on Sunday said only "minor" practical issues remained to secure a deal.
Speculation grew further when the International Committee of the Red Cross, which is often involved in prisoner exchanges and hostage releases, said on Monday that its president had met Haniyeh in Qatar.
The tentative agreement would include a five-day truce, comprised of a complete ceasefire on the ground and an end to Israeli air operations over Gaza, except in the north, where they would only halt for six hours daily.
Under the deal, which the sources said could yet change, between 50 and 100 Israeli civilian and foreign hostages would be released, but no military personnel.
In exchange, some 300 Palestinians would be freed from Israeli jails, among them women and minors.
Since Israel started an indiscriminate bombing of Gaza after a surprise Oct. 7 incursion by Hamas, at least 13,000 Palestinians have been killed, including over 9,000 women and children, and more than 30,000 others have been injured, according to the latest figures by Palestinian authorities.
The Israeli death toll, in comparison, is around 1,200, according to official figures.
