Hamas announced on Wednesday evening that its negotiators reaffirmed their willingness to implement an "immediate" ceasefire with Israel in Gaza, according to a previous US proposal, without introducing any new conditions.
Hamas issued a statement confirming that a negotiation team, headed by senior official Khalil al-Hayya, met with key mediators, including Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Egypt's intelligence chief Abbas Kamel, during talks in Doha.
According to a source familiar with the matter, reported by Barak Ravid of Axios, the mediators from Qatar and Egypt left the meeting with the belief that it might be possible to present a new US-Qatari-Egyptian bridging proposal to the parties next week. The United States has been pushing a ceasefire and hostage release framework, first introduced by President Joe Biden in May. Despite this, Hamas has rejected every proposal thus far.
Last week, The Washington Post revealed that the US has been coordinating with Egypt and Qatar to propose a final, "take it or leave it" deal.
* Reuters contributed to this article.