Qatari negotiators playing a lead role in efforts to free hostages are hopeful of securing more releases, according to a Qatari foreign ministry spokesman.

AFP reports Majed al-Ansari said Qatar’s negotiators were “hopeful for further releases” with talks ongoing with Israel and Hamas.

There was “more openness on political will between the two sides” after the release of two elderly Israeli women on Monday night, the spokesman told AFP.

But Ansari, who also serves as an adviser to Qatar’s Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, cautioned that amid escalating violence in Gaza, there was “more difficulty on the logistics of getting people out”.