Israel and Hamas have been presented with a “final” draft of a ceasefire agreement that would end the war in Gaza and free hostages.

A “breakthrough” was reached on Sunday evening in Doha following talks between Qatar’s prime minister, Israel’s intelligence chiefs and Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy.

It is thought that the coming days will be critical for ending more than 15 months of fighting that has destabilised the Middle East, as Israeli and Hamas negotiators take the proposed deal back to their leaders for final approval.

One person close to the talks said that mediators from Qatar had put renewed pressure on Hamas to accept the agreement, while Steve Witkoff, the president-elect’s envoy, was pressing the Israelis. Mr Witkoff recently joined the negotiations and has been in the region in recent days.

Hamas is expected to release 34 hostages during the first of three phases in the ceasefire, while Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails in return.

Women, children, the elderly and the ill are among the hostages set to be released in the first phase, but Hamas has so far not publicly confirmed how many of them are alive.

As the phases progress, Israeli troops will gradually withdraw from Gaza but Israel has reportedly proposed the establishment of a new buffer zone in the strip to prevent future terror attacks.