Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, said on Wednesday that he welcomed the potential for “a dialogue” with Hamas and heaped praise on Qatar for helping facilitate the cease-fire deal between Israel and Gaza, despite facing scrutiny for previous ties to the Gulf nation.

The cease-fire between Hamas and Israel is expected to go into effect on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. local time, Qatar’s foreign ministry announced Saturday.

Qatar’s foreign ministry says the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will go into effect at 8:30 a.m. (0630 GMT) on Sunday.

Qatar, a key negotiator in the fragile Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement, confirmed Saturday that the first hostages will be released in less than 24 hours. Qatari Foreign Minister Majid al-Ansari ...

Qatar has handed over drafts of a possible ceasefire agreement to both Hamas and Israel, Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said on Tuesday, adding that this is the closest point to a deal over the past months.

Israel and Hamas agreed to pause the devastating war in the Gaza Strip, mediators announced Wednesday, raising the possibility of winding down the deadliest and most destructive fighting between the bitter enemies.

The Biden administration is putting pressure on a deal before the inauguration, which will see President-elect Donald Trump return to the White House.

Qatar's Prime Minister said in Davos on Tuesday he hoped the Palestinian Authority would return to play a governing role in Gaza once the war with Israel comes to an end.

Delayed by a dispute over the release of a specific hostage, an agreement has been reached to allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.

Al-Ansari noted that the parties to the conflict, with the participation of Qatar, Egypt and the US, agreed that Hamas would release Israeli hostage Arbel Yehud

According to the Qatari diplomat, in return, Israel agreed to allow Gaza residents to return to the northern part of the enclave starting Monday morning, January 27