Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani on Saturday morning said that there is "new momentum" in negotiations for a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
According to him, Qatar spoke with sources close to US President-elect Donald Trump, and said that the disagreements between Israel and Hamas are "not considerable."
Meanwhile, reports said that the Hamas terror group is working to locate Israeli hostages held in Gaza by other terror groups, so as to form a fuller picture ahead of negotiations with Israel, sources told Asharq Al-Awsat.
According to the sources, Hamas officials have contacted several of the terror groups in Gaza, to receive updates on the living hostages they are holding.
The sources said that there has been "progress on the indirect talks fora hostage deal," and noted that the terror group is working to locate the bodies of some of the hostages, but that the focus right now is on the living hostages. According to them, during recent talks, Hamas clarified to the Egyptians and other mediators that such efforts require a ceasefire.
"There are a number of bodies of hostages whose exact location is not known, among other things because they were killed together with those who held them captive," the sources told the London-based newspaper. "This requires time to discover their exact location, and therefore a ceasefire will very much help this issue."
Regarding the ratio of hostages to be released per convicted terrorist, the sources said that Hamas is demanding the release of terrorists who have more severe punishments in exchange for IDF soldiers. They also said that their release will not be included in criteria regarding the "humanitarian" hostages in the first stage.