Gaza truce talks in final stages: Qatar

DOHA, Jan 14 (AFP/AP): Key mediator Qatar said negotiations for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal were in their "final stages" on Tuesday, adding that it was hopeful an agreement could be reached "very soon".
Qatar, Egypt and the United States have stepped up efforts to broker a ceasefire to enable the release of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
On Monday, US President Joe Biden said a deal was "on the brink" of being finalised, just days before the inauguration of his successor, Donald Trump.
On Tuesday, Qatar foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said the negotiations were in their "final stages".
"We do believe that we are at the final stages... certainly we are hopeful that this would lead very soon to an agreement," Ansari said, adding "until there is an announcement... we shouldn't be over-excited about what's happening right now".
"We have reached a point where the major issues that were preventing a deal from happening were addressed," he told a news conference.
Hamas's October 7 attack, the deadliest in Israel's history, resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
On that day, militants also took 251 people hostage, 94 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed 46,645 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory, figures that the UN considers reliable.
A source briefed on the Doha negotiations said earlier the heads of Israel's intelligence agencies, the Middle East envoys for the incoming and outgoing US administrations and Qatar's prime minister had been due at the talks.
"Mediators will hold separate talks with Hamas," the source said. Qatar said later the talks were being held at the "highest level".

Meanwhile, Israeli strikes in the Gaza Strip killed at least 18 people overnight, including women and children, health officials said Tuesday, as Israel and Hamas appeared to be narrowing in on a ceasefire deal to end the 15-month war and release dozens of hostages.
Officials have expressed mounting optimism that they can conclude an agreement in the coming days after more than a year of talks that have repeatedly stalled.
Two strikes in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah killed two women and their four children, who ranged in age from 1 month to 9 years old. One of the women was pregnant and the baby did not survive, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies.
Another 12 people were killed in two strikes on the southern city of Khan Younis, according to the European Hospital.
There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military. Israel says it only targets militants and accuses them of hiding among civilians in shelters and tent camps for the displaced.
Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza began on Oct. 7, 2023, when militants stormed into southern Israel and killed about 1,200 people and abducted around 250. A third of the 100 hostages still held in Gaza are believed to be dead.
The Israel Hamas-war has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to health authorities there. The Health Ministry does not distinguish between fighters and civilians, but says women and children make up more than half the fatalities.