Israel and Hamas handed ‘final’ ceasefire draft to end Gaza war

Israel and Hamas have been presented with a “final” draft of a ceasefire agreement that would end the war in Gaza and free hostages.

A “breakthrough” was reached on Sunday evening in Doha following talks between Qatar’s prime minister, Israel’s intelligence chiefs and Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy.

It is thought that the coming days will be critical for ending more than 15 months of fighting that has destabilised the Middle East as Israeli and Hamas negotiators take the proposed deal back to their leaders for final approval.

One person close to the talks said that mediators from Qatar had put renewed pressure on Hamas to accept the agreement, while Steve Witkoff, the president-elect’s envoy, was pressing the Israelis. Mr Witkoff recently joined the negotiations and has been in the region in recent days.