Tel Aviv : With the dispatch of Israel’s intelligence chief to Qatar, the new hopes for a ceasefire in Gaza and de-escalation on the boundary between Israel and Lebanon were raised on Friday. The move was initiated by the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu who send Mosad’s chief to Qatar to resume stalled negotiations as Hamas reportedly told its Lebanese ally Hezbollah it had accepted a ceasefire proposal.
As per the Guardian news, an official for the Lebanese group, which said on Thursday that it had fired 200 rockets into Israel in retaliation for a strike that killed one of its top commanders, also told Reuters that the group would cease fire as soon as any Gaza ceasefire agreement takes effect, echoing previous statements. “If there is a Gaza agreement, then from zero hour there will be a ceasefire in Lebanon,” the official said, as reported by the Guardian.
The efforts to negotiate a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages held for nearly nine months gained momentum this week as Hamas put forward a revised proposal outlining the terms of an agreement, and Israel expressed readiness to resume discussions that had previously come to a standstill.