For a “positive start” in the talks about the hostages held by Hamas and for a possible truce in Gaza, spoke the White House press representative. The US, Qatar, Egypt and an Israeli delegation are participating in the talks that began in Doha.

John Kirby, the spokesman for the US National Security Council, said that the talks will not end tonight and how they will continue tomorrow: “We are at a point where the framework of the agreement has been broadly accepted and the loopholes that need to be filled covered are related to its implementation”.

At the same time, US and Middle Eastern diplomats have mobilized to prevent it Iran from launching an attack on Israel that could lead to a general war. Both Iran and the US have said the lines of communication between them are open.

In light of the fact that a potential attack by Iran against Israel could be averted if an agreement is reached in Doha, it makes clear how crucial today’s – many say last-ditch – diplomatic effort is.

However, Iran’s mission to the United Nations said on Saturday that the retaliation was “completely unrelated to the ceasefire in Gaza”.

Hezbollah with the “hand on the trigger”

Also yesterday, a senior Iranian security official, speaking to Reuters, said that the Islamic Republic, along with allies such as Hezbollah, would launch a direct attack if talks on Gaza fail or if Tehran perceives that Israel is obstructing the negotiations.

The sources did not say how long Iran would allow negotiations to proceed before responding.

Two senior sources close to Lebanon’s Hezbollah stressed that Tehran will give negotiations a chance but will not abandon its intentions to retaliate.

A ceasefire in Gaza would give Iran a pretext for a smaller-scale “symbolic” response to the Haniga killing, one of the sources said.

The discussion in Doha is being held on the three-point proposal presented by the American president Joe Biden at the end of May, and calls for the release of hostages from Gaza with a “complete and irreversible ceasefire” and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israel.

OR first phase will last six weeks and will include the “withdrawal of Israeli forces from all residential areas of Gaza” and the “release of a number of hostages, including women, elderly, wounded in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners” and the implementation of a temporary ceasefire.

OR second phase it includes a “prisoner exchange for the release of all remaining living hostages, including male soldiers” and a definitive end to the fighting.

In third phasewill begin a “major reconstruction plan for Gaza and any final remains of hostages who have been killed will be returned to their families,” the US president said.

It is unclear how many of the original hostages to be freed are still alive.

Hamas and Israel have been engaged in grueling negotiations for months.

Officials from Qatar and Egypt act as intermediaries, delivering messages to representatives of Israel and Hamas in “bus” diplomacy, since representatives of the warring parties are not present in the same location.

Technical teams have flown in and out of Doha and Cairo to iron out the details of a potential deal.