Hopes increase as Gaza ceasefire appears close

Negotiators were near to hammering out the final details of a ceasefire in Gaza on Wednesday after marathon talks in Qatar, and the US and Egyptian leaders promised to stay in close contact about a deal.

More than eight hours of talks in Doha had fuelled optimism as officials from mediators Qatar, Egypt and the US as well as Israel and Hamas said an agreement for a truce in the besieged enclave and release of hostages was closer than ever.

Qatar's foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari earlier told a news conference that both sides were presented with a text and talks on the last details were under way.

But a senior Hamas official told Reuters that the Palestinian group had not delivered its response yet because it was still waiting for Israel to submit maps showing how its forces would withdraw from Gaza.

US President Joe Biden, whose administration has been taking part alongside an envoy of President-elect Donald Trump, said a deal was close.

Biden and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi talked about progress in the negotiations on Tuesday.

"Both leaders committed to remain in close coordination directly and through their teams over the coming hours," the White House said in a statement after the leaders' telephone call.

The two presidents "emphasised the urgent need for a deal to be implemented".

Hamas said the talks had reached the final steps and it hoped this round of negotiations would lead to a deal.

An Israeli official said talks had reached a critical phase although some details needed to be worked out. "We are close, we are not there yet."

Visiting Rome, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said he believed a majority of Israel's coalition government would support a Gaza deal if one is finally agreed, despite vocal opposition from hardline nationalist parties in the coalition.

Islamic Jihad, which is separate from Hamas and also holds hostages in Gaza, said it was sending a senior delegation that would arrive in Doha on Tuesday night to take part in final arrangements for a ceasefire deal.

If successful, the phased ceasefire - capping over a year of start-and-stop talks - could halt fighting that decimated Gaza, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, made most of the enclave's population homeless and is still killing dozens a day.

That in turn could ease tensions across the wider Middle East, where the war has fuelled conflict in the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and raised fears of all-out war between Israel and Iran.

Israel would recover around 100 remaining hostages and bodies from among those captured in the October 7, 2023 attacks by Hamas that precipitated the war. In return it would free Palestinian detainees.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who gave a speech in Washington outlining a vision for governing the Palestinian territories after the war, said it was up to Hamas to accept a deal that was already set for implementation.