US sees ‘breakthrough’ in Israel-Hamas talks, senior official says

WASHINGTON: Hamas made a pretty significant adjustment in its position over a potential hostage release deal with Israel, a senior US administration official said on Thursday (Jul 4), expressing hope that it would lead to a pact that would be a step to a permanent ceasefire.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the Palestinian militant group’s latest response “moves the process forward and may provide the basis for closing the deal,” while stressing it does not mean an agreement was likely in the coming days, and that “significant work” remained on implementation steps.

“We’ve had a breakthrough,” the official told reporters on a conference call, adding there were still outstanding issues related to the implementation of the agreement and that a deal was not expected to be closed in a period of days.