Report: Efforts to secure a Gaza deal intensify, but no breakthrough yet

While efforts to broker a Gaza ceasefire and hostage deal have picked up in recent days, there has been no breakthrough thus far, unnamed Hamas sources tell the Saudi newspaper Asharq Al-Awsat.

Hamas is pushing back on US-backed Israeli demands that its military wing give up its weapons and that its leaders go into exile, the sources say. Critically, Israel continues to oppose a permanent ceasefire — a demand from which Hamas has not budged.

The sources speculate that a new round of indirect talks in either Egypt or Qatar in the coming days.

Earlier today, senior Hamas official Taher Nounou denied in an interview with Qatar’s Al-Araby channel that there had been any progress in the talks, following an AFP report claiming that “intensive talks” were taking place regarding a ceasefire in Gaza.