TRANSCRIPT
The impact of 15 months of fighting can be seen in the Gazan city of Khan Younis.
The landscape is littered with rubble, the aftermath of extensive Israeli airstrikes - and the stench of death lingers in the air.
Yahya Rashid, originally from Gaza city, is displaced once again and living in a tent in Khan Younis.
He says talk of a Gaza ceasefire deal being close to finalised is welcome news, but he doesn't want to get his hopes up and have them dashed, after a growing number of failed attempts to lock down a deal in the past.
(Arabic then translated into English): "We really hope it happens because our people are in desperate of a break from this big burden. Every family has a story, and every citizen has a story, because we have paid a high price in this battle. We want to see a truce; and we want our rights as Palestinians to be respected."
Most of Gaza population of 2.3 million have been displaced since the October 7 [[2023]] Hamas attack in southern Israel 15 months ago that killed around 1,200 people and resulted in the taking of more than 250 hostages.
Gaza's Health Ministry says the death toll in Gaza is over 46,600 and many aid workers and doctors say famine has taken hold in Gaza.
Food, fuel, medicine and shelter are all in very short supply.
Palestinian rescue worker Nassim Hassan has seen that firsthand.
(Arabic then translated into English): "We are impatiently waiting this moment when a ceasefire would be announced. It's been more than 460 days of fighting. As someone who works with the ambulance and emergency unit, a lot of work awaits the teams after the ceasefire. There are a lot of missing people and many people killed."
Negotiators say talks have now progressed to the final stages, but nothing has been finalised yet.
Qatar has submitted the final draft version of the ceasefire agreement to Israel and Hamas.
A spokesman for Qatar's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Majed bin Mohammed Al Ansari, says until the deal is finalised, there is a limit to how much detail can be revealed.
"The main reason why we are more optimistic right now, as I said, during the past months, there were underlying issues, major issues, between the two parties unresolved. These issues were resolved during the talks in the past couple of weeks. And therefore, we have reached a point where the major issues that were preventing a deal from happening were addressed."
The latest round of ceasefire negotiations resumed in Doha on January the 3rd.
Over the past months, the efforts by mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and the United States have failed to reach a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas - since the week-long truce that took place between November and December 2023.
Middle East expert and international peace negotiator, Nomi Bar-Yaacov, says there is good reason to believe that this time, a deal will be reached.
"What's driving this forward is the inauguration of President Donald Trump. He would like to get a Nobel Peace Prize. He would like to end all the wars. He's very clear cut about that goal. President Obama got a Nobel Peace Prize for exceptional rhetoric, less action. And I think Donald Trump would like to get a prize for action - less rhetoric, more action. The issue here is the implementation of the deal."
If successful, the ceasefire could cap over a year of start-and-stop talks and lead to the biggest release of Israeli hostages since the early days of the conflict, when Hamas freed about half of its captives in exchange for 240 Palestinian prisoners and detainees jailed in Israel.
So far only the first phase - covering a period of between 42 and 60 days has been outlined. It envisions a six-week pause in the fighting.
In that time, 33 hostages are to be released by Hamas in exchange for as many as 1,000 Palestinian detainees.
The draft agreement also includes a gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops; and a significant increase of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
A further round of negotiations would begin 16 days into that first phase of the agreement, on the topic of further withdrawals of Israeli troops from Gaza, although an Israeli official says a full withdrawal would not happen until all hostages are fully released.
But key details remain difficult to resolve — and the deal does not include written guarantees that the ceasefire will continue beyond the first phase.
Ms Bar-Yaacov says there are lot of uncertainties.
"If the end game isn't crystal clear and the end game has to be a total Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and paving the path down the line to two states that can live in security and peace. If the end goal isn't clear and there's no precise timeframe and implementation mechanism for it, there will be a return to war."
Israel says 94 of the hostages are still being held by Hamas, of that number 34 are presumed dead.
Families of the hostages say any deal must include the release of all remaining hostages.
Gil Dickmann is the cousin of hostage Carmel Gat who is among those killed in while held captive in Gaza.
"We are demanding from Prime Minister Netanyahu, from Qatar, from President-elect Trump, to agree upon all the stages of negotiation and get all the hostages back. We don't want more hostages left behind, and we don't want to hear about more hostages being killed in captivity like my cousin."
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer says real progress has been made in negotiations, but it is still at a 'sensitive' stage.
He has vowed Israel's government will not leave any hostages behind.
"There were 34 names Israel supplied to negotiators in May 2024. Now, there were 33 left after the confirmation of the murder of Yousef Zayadni. We will not leave any of our hostages behind."
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing additional pressure from multiple quarters.
Israel's national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, has renewed his threat to leave the government if it agrees a ceasefire deal with Hamas that falls anything short of the complete destruction of the group.
And a growing number of Israeli soldiers have expressed their weariness and reluctance to keep fighting in the conflict.
Some 200 soldiers signed a letter saying they’d stop fighting if the government didn't secure a ceasefire.
Yuval Green, a 27-year-old medic, says he chose to abandon his post last January, after spending nearly two months in Gaza.
"So I've seen destruction done to houses all around because of military purposes. We had to shoot towards houses to make sure we're not entering a death trap, for instance. And things like that felt a lot like they make sense. But when you're burning down a house, when you're doing something very severe for absolutely no military reason, then that's the time when I have to say I'm not willing to participate."
A senior Hamas official says they are still waiting for Israel to submit maps showing how its forces would withdraw from Gaza.
U-S Secretary of State Antony Blinken says an incredible amount of work has gone into reaching this point - and he wants to see a deal finally reached.
"At different moments, different parties have made it hard to finalize an agreement, or events have delayed or derailed its completion. For the past several months, Hamas has played the spoiler. But over the past several weeks, our intensive efforts have brought us to the brink of full and final agreement. On Sunday, the United States, Qatar and Egypt put forward a final proposal. The ball is now in Hamas's court."
Negotiations continue.
