A senior Hamas official has said that a fresh round of Gaza ceasefire talks began earlier in the Qatari capital Doha, with the Palestinian movement approaching the negotiations “positively and responsibly”, AFP reports.

“A new round of ceasefire negotiations began today,” Abdul Rahman Shadid said in a statement. “Our movement is dealing with these negotiations positively and responsibly.”

Israel has also sent a team of negotiators for talks aimed at extending the fragile ceasefire in Gaza, but has so far not commented on the talks.

“We hope that the current round of negotiations leads to tangible progress toward beginning the second phase,” Shadid said. He also expressed hope that US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff would help “initiate negotiations for the second phase of the ceasefire agreement”.