Hamas says Gaza truce talks in Doha 'serious and positive'

DOHA — Hamas said talks in Qatar on Tuesday aimed at a truce and hostage-prisoner exchange in Gaza were "serious and positive", a day after an Israeli delegation arrived in Doha to meet with mediators.

"Hamas affirms that, in light of the serious and positive discussions taking place today in Doha under the auspices of our Qatari and Egyptian brothers, reaching an agreement for a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange is possible if the occupation ceases to impose new conditions," the Palestinian Islamist group said in a statement. 

Israel's defence minister Israel Katz said on Tuesday that his country's forces would be free to act in the Gaza Strip even after its war with Hamas ends.

"After eliminating Hamas's military and governmental capabilities in Gaza, Israel would have security control over Gaza with complete freedom of action" for the Israeli military, Katz said in a post on X, noting that it was his own "position".

Katz said that Israel's future control over Gaza should be "exactly like in Judea and Samaria", the biblical names for the West Bank which Israel has occupied since 1967 and where its forces conduct frequent raids.

Israel's campaign has killed at least 45,028 people in Gaza, most of them civilians, according to the figures from the territory's health ministry which the United Nations considers reliable.