Steve Witkoff, President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy, said on Wednesday that he welcomed the potential for “a dialogue” with Hamas and heaped praise on Qatar for helping facilitate the cease-fire deal between Israel and Gaza, despite facing scrutiny for previous ties to the Gulf nation.

The cease-fire between Hamas and Israel is expected to go into effect on Sunday at 8:30 a.m. local time, Qatar’s foreign ministry announced Saturday.

Hamas faces an uncertain future post-ceasefire, grappling with leadership losses, declining foreign support, and strained relations with Palestinian factions. Amid pragmatic concessions and resistance rhetoric,

In a rare move hours after the cease-fire took effect, one senior Hamas official said the group wants to engage the new Trump administration.

Watch again as Qatar’s prime minister held a press conference on Wednesday (15 January) as Hamas accepted a ceasefire deal with Israel.

Mediator Qatar gave Israel and Hamas a final draft of a deal to end the war in Gaza on Monday, after a midnight "breakthrough" in talks attended by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's envoy, an official briefed on the negotiations told Reuters.

For the Islamist militant group, armed struggle now looks like a dead end. Its future in Gaza depends on the civilian politburo.

Qatar’s foreign ministry says the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas will go into effect at 8:30 a.m. (0630 GMT) on Sunday.

Last week’s Hamas-Israel hostage deal revealed a glaring and uncomfortable reality - the United States, albeit indirectly, became entangled with a murderous jihadi group. Securing the release of hostages is a commendable and necessary humanitarian effort,

Qatar has handed over drafts of a possible ceasefire agreement to both Hamas and Israel, Qatari foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said on Tuesday, adding that this is the closest point to a deal over the past months.

Qatar's Prime Minister said in Davos on Tuesday he hoped the Palestinian Authority would return to play a governing role in Gaza once the war with Israel comes to an end.