Qatar foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said on Thursday night that the Gaza ceasefire-hostage talks will continue on Friday, Reuters reported.
The spokesperson added in a statement that the efforts of the mediators from Qatar, Egypt and the United States are ongoing to move forward in endeavors to reach a ceasefire that would facilitate the release of hostages and enable the entry of the largest possible amount of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
A source involved in the Doha negotiations told Haaretz that the talks went well, adding that the negotiations are "expected to renew tomorrow, and we are hoping to see progress in the next 48 hours."
At the end of Thursday's talks, Qatar’s prime minister spoke with the Iranian foreign minister about the developments, the report said.
The talks in Qatar come a week after the leaders of the US, Egypt and Qatar issued a statement calling on Israel and Hamas to hold a summit to finalize the deal.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Wednesday approved the departure of the Israeli delegation to the summit, even though Hamas announced on Sunday that it refuses to send representatives to the negotiations.
The US has been pushing a three-phase proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release deal which President Joe Biden outlined in late May.
Biden has indicated that both Israel and Hamas had agreed to the outline and reiterated his determination to implement the proposal, even though Hamas rejected the Biden outline shortly after he presented it.
Recently, a US official said that the negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal are in their "closing stages".