Qatar says Israel-Hamas hostage deal talks 'progressing positively,' announcement on timing to be made soon

After a delay in the commencement of the hostage deal between Israel and Hamas was announced, Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson said that talks between both parties are “progressing positively” and that an announcement about the exact time the truce will begin will be made in the coming hours. The Israel National Security Council has announced that hostages would not be released before Friday. Initially, the first batch of hostages were to be freed on Thursday. The decision to delay the execution of the hostage deal to Fridaay was taken together by Israel, Qatar and Egypt while the US was kept in the loop about the developments. A senior US official told CNN that more time was needed to finalise the details of the deal to avoid “things going wrong.” The hostage deal brokered by Qatar will see the release of 50 Israelis captured by Hamas while 150 Palestinian prisoners will be freed by Israel. Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari said that Doha is working with the two parties along with the US to “ensure the rapid start of the truce and to provide what is necessary to ensure the parties’ commitment to the agreement.” White House spokesperson Adrienne Watson said final logistical details for the release were being worked out. “That is on track and we are hopeful that implementation will begin on Friday morning,” Watson said. Meanwhile, Israel has said its forces carried out aerial strikes on over 300 Hamas targets over the past day. Reuters was unable to independently verify the reports. Israel’s public broadcaster Kan reported that the reason behind the 24-hour delay in the truce was because the agreement was not signed by Hamas and mediator Qatar. “No one said there would be a release tomorrow except the media … We had to make it clear that no release is planned before Friday, because of the uncertainty that hostages’ families are facing,” Kan quoted a source in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office as saying. With inputs from Reuters