DOHA: Negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire and captives release are progressing in Doha and a counter-proposal could soon be presented to Palestinian movement group Hamas, Qatar said on Tuesday.
Israel's spy chief has left the Qatari capital but technical teams are now discussing details of a potential deal, foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said.
Mossad head David Barnea had flown in for talks with the Qatari premier and Egyptian officials on Monday, the first since mediators failed to secure a truce before the Muslim holy month of Ramadhan, which began last week.
"We are at the point now where we are expecting that the counter-proposal would be presented to Hamas, but this is not the final step in the process," Ansari said.
"I don't think we are at a moment were we can say we are close to a deal. We are cautiously optimistic because talks have resumed, but it's too early to announce any successes," he added.
On Monday, a Hamas official said the Palestinian groups would accept a partial Israeli withdrawal before exchanging prisoners, easing previous demands for a complete pullout from Gaza.
The official Osama Hamdan, speaking to the Al-Manar TV station of Lebanon, held out hope of a "complete end of military operations", saying negotiations could be concluded "within days".
Last week, Hamas proposed a six-week truce and the release of about 42 captives in exchange for 20 to 50 Palestinian prisoners per captive.
However, a threatened Israeli assault on the city of Rafah, where about 1.5 million Gazans are sheltering, most of them displaced by fighting elsewhere in the territory, could derail the talks, Ansari said.
"Any operation in Rafah right now will be a humanitarian catastrophe," he said, adding that it would be "difficult for the negotiation process to succeed within the parameters of such an attack".
US President Joe Biden said Monday he had asked Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to send a team to Washington to discuss how to avoid an all-out assault on the southern Gaza city.
Palestinian groups seized about 250 Israeli and foreign captives during the October 7 attack, but dozens were released during a week-long truce in November.
Israel believes about 130 remain in Gaza, including 33 who are presumed dead.
Israel's retaliatory offensive against Palestinians has killed at least 31,819 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the health ministry in the territory. — AFP
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