The negotiations for a Gaza truce and hostage release deal were in their "final stages" on said Dr Majed bin Mohammed al Ansari, the Official Spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA), on Tuesday. "We do believe that we are at the final stages... certainly we are hopeful that this would lead very soon to an agreement," Dr. Al Ansari said, adding "until there is an announcement... we shouldn't be over-excited about what's happening right now". "We have reached a point where the major issues that were preventing a deal from happening were addressed," he told a news conference. Qatar, Egypt and the United States have stepped up efforts to broker a ceasefire to enable the release of hostages held in Gaza since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel. On Monday, US President Joe Biden said a deal was "on the brink" of being finalised, just days before the inauguration of his successor, Donald Trump. A source briefed on the Doha negotiations said earlier the heads of Israel's intelligence agencies, the Middle East envoys for the incoming and outgoing US administrations and Qatar's prime minister had been due at the talks. "Mediators will hold separate talks with Hamas," the source said. Sources close to the talks and Israeli media said the first phase of a deal would see 33 Israeli hostages released, while two Palestinian sources close to Hamas told AFP that Israel would release about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange. Hamas said it hoped for a "clear and comprehensive agreement", adding that it had held consultations with other Palestinian factions and informed them of the "progress made".