GAZA, Jan. 14 (Xinhua) -- Hamas said on Tuesday that the ongoing Doha talks on a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner exchange deal have reached their "final stages."

In a press statement, Hamas said it had updated other Palestinian factions on the progress in the ceasefire talks. The factions expressed satisfaction with the developments and stressed the need for national readiness for the next stage.

Hamas confirmed that discussions will continue until the ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement, now in its final stages, is finalized. They hope that this round of negotiations would end with "a clear and comprehensive agreement."

Earlier in the day, Qatar's Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Majed Al Ansari confirmed that the Gaza ceasefire talks in Doha have reached an advanced stage. "We do not have a specific time frame, but efforts are ongoing to finalize the agreement," he said, while emphasizing that the ceasefire will be implemented "immediately" once a deal is reached.

On Monday, Hamas delivered a "positive" response to a draft of the Gaza ceasefire agreement offered by mediators in the Qatari capital Doha, where indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas resumed on Jan. 3.

Over the past months, the efforts by mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and the United States have failed to reach a new ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas since the first truce, which lasted a week between November and December 2023.

Israel and Hamas have been engaged in a deadly conflict after Hamas launched an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, during which about 1,200 people were killed and around 250 others taken hostage.

The Palestinian death toll from ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza has risen to 46,645, Gaza-based health authorities said in a statement on Tuesday. Enditem

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