A meeting in Paris on Sunday between US, Egyptian, Qatari and Israeli officials on a Gaza ceasefire was “constructive”, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said, adding that “differences remain” between parties, inform the news agencies of France. Presse and Agerpres.

Among the participants in the Paris talks were the heads of the Mossad (Israel’s external intelligence) and the Shin Bet (internal intelligence), an Israeli press release confirms. These protagonists “will continue to discuss this week in other meetings,” the Israeli government also noted, without specifying the date and place of the next discussions.

CIA Director William Burns, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani and an unidentified senior Egyptian official also took part in the talks in the French capital.

The purpose of the meeting was to reach an agreement that would include a suspension of hostilities and the release of hostages held by the Palestinian group Hamas, according to sources close to the participants.

The Israeli government, under the pressure of its public opinion, sought the release of the hostages

About 250 people were captured and taken to the Gaza Strip by Hamas during the October 7 invasion of southern Israel. Of those hostages, about 100 were released in late November during a ceasefire in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. But 132 hostages still remain in Gaza, with 28 reportedly dead.

An estimated 1,140 people, most of them civilians, were killed in the October 7 attack in Israel. According to the latest report, Israel immediately retaliated and vowed to “destroy” the Palestinian Islamist movement in power in Gaza and launched a massive military operation that has so far killed 26,422 Palestinians, most of them women, children and teenagers. Ministry of Health in the Palestinian enclave.

The Israeli government is currently under pressure from public opinion to secure the release of the hostages, while Israeli military operations continue day and night in the southern Gaza Strip.

What could predict a possible truce

The New York Times reported that the talks in Paris would consider a possible truce that would last 30 days and would allow the release of women, the oldest hostages and the wounded held by Hamas. During that 30-day period, according to the same newspaper, the parties will discuss the details of extending the truce for another 30 days, during which the male hostages and soldiers will be released by Hamas. Such an agreement also provides for the release of some Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.