Hamas Gave ‘Positive’ Response To Truce Deal With Israel: Qatar PM

Hamas gave a “positive” response to a truce proposal with Israel, key mediator Qatar has said as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken toured Middle-East region seeking an enduring end to the deadly four-month war.

"We have received a reply from Hamas with regards to the general framework of the agreement with regards to hostages. The reply includes some comments, but in general it is positive," Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani said after meeting Blinken in Doha.

Hamas also confirmed it delivered its response to proposals hammered out a week ago in Paris between Qatar and other mediators, AFP reported.

Blinken, on his fifth Middle East crisis tour since the war broke out, said Hamas's reply has been "shared" with Israel.

He has also said he will discuss it with Israeli leaders on Wednesday.

"We're studying it intensely... and we will be working as hard as we possibly can to try to get an agreement," Blinken was quoted as saying.

Israel-Hamas war started with unprecedented Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally. Militants also seized around 250 hostages. Israel says 132 remain in Gaza including 28 who are believed to have been killed.

Vowing to eliminate Hamas, Israel has launched air strikes and a land offensive that has killed at least 27,585 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry there.

The United Nations, rights groups and charities have deplored the "catastrophic" humanitarian situation in the Hamas-run territory.

Israel's campaign has devastated swathes of Gaza, destroyed hospitals and displaced half of its population of 2.4 million, while food, water, fuel and medicine are in dire shortage.

Heavy strikes and fighting continued on Tuesday, with the health ministry in Gaza saying at least 107 people were killed in 24 hours, including six policemen securing an aid truck.

And fear has mounted for more than a million Palestinians sheltering in the far southern city of Rafah, after Israeli warnings it was the next target of its campaign to eradicate Hamas.

The army "will reach places where we have not yet fought... right up to the last Hamas bastion, which is Rafah", Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant was quoted as saying.

Blinken pushing for normalisation of ties between countries in Middle-East:

Blinken is seeking progress on a cease-fire deal, on potential normalisation of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia, and on preventing an escalation of regional fighting.

On all three fronts, Blinken faces major challenges. Hamas and Israel are publicly at odds over key elements of a potential truce. Israel has dismissed the United States' calls for a path to a Palestinian state, and Iran's militant allies in the region have shown little sign of being deterred by US strikes.

Egypt and Qatar have been trying to mediate an agreement between Israel and Gaza that would lead to the release of more hostages in return for a several-week pause in Israeli military operations. The outlines of such a deal were worked out by intelligence chiefs from the US, Egypt, Qatar and Israel late last month and have been presented to Hamas, which has not yet formally responded.

As on his previous four trips to the Mideast since the Gaza war began, Blinken's other main goal is to prevent the conflict from spreading, a task made more difficult by stepped-up attacks by Iran-backed militias in the region and increasingly severe US military responses in Iraq, Syria, Yemen and the Red Sea that have intensified since last week.

Blinken met with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday evening, shortly after arriving in the Saudi capital, Riyadh. Saudi officials have said the kingdom is still interested in normalising relations with Israel in a potentially historic deal, but only if there is a credible plan to create a Palestinian state.