There has been “some movement” on a deal to secure the release of hostages by Hamas, US President Joe Biden said on Tuesday, adding that there had been a response from the militant group that he described as “a little over the top.”
“Hamas has responded to the initial hostage deal proposal, but the details of that cannot be made public at this time,” Qatari Prime Minister Mohammad Al-Thani said Tuesday during a public press conference in Doha with visiting US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.
“I would like to inform the media that we have received a reply from Hamas about the general framework of the agreement for hostages,” he continued, “The reply includes some comments, but in general, it is positive.”
Without expanding further, he said, “However, given the sensitivity of the circumstances, we will not tackle details.”
“We are optimistic, and we have delivered the response to the Israeli party,” he said.
His words came after a tense week in which Israel has waited for the response, with the absence of public details sparking intense debates about what possible price Hamas would demand for the deal, which is being mediated by Qatar and Egypt.
Thani called for the international community to insist on a ceasefire in Gaza and warned that defunding the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which services Palestinian refugees, would have “catastrophic repercussions.”
“We fear complete defunding,” he added.
Qatar said it has sent two thousand tons of humanitarian assistance and two field hospitals to Gaza, Thani explained.
On Tuesday evening, the Prime Minister’s Office announced that Hamas’s response to the deal was forwarded to Israel’s Mossad and that the Israeli intelligence agency was studying the details of the response.
Blinken announced his intention to visit Israel on Wednesday to consult with the government
Blinken said the US has worked intensely to free the over 130 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
“We put forward a serious proposal that was aimed” also at creating options for the day after the war ends, Blinken said.
On this agenda for his trip has been the reveal of a Riyadh-Washington security pact that would include a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Blinken spoke about the importance of integrating Israel into the region through the creation of a two-state resolution to the conflict.
“We will continue to use every tool available to us to reach an extended pause that gets hostages out, brings more [humanitarian] assistance in, that brings calm to Gaza’s civilians, and that keeps diplomacy moving forward to a more integrated region.”
He arrived in Qatar after brief stops in Egypt and Saudi Arabia. He is expected to visit sovereign Israel and the West Bank on Wednesday.
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