The emir of Qatar spoke Tuesday of “a race against time” to secure the release of Israeli hostages held by terror groups in the Gaza Strip, as part of the diplomatic push for a truce in the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza in which his country is playing a key role.

Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani was speaking on a state visit to France, at a dinner in his honor with his host, French President Emmanuel Macron. He noted that their two countries are working intensely on Gaza diplomacy.

His remarks came as Hebrew media reported details of a US proposal for an agreed lull, including specifics about what is expected to be a key element of any framework — the number of Palestinian security prisoners held in Israel who would be released in exchange for each hostage set free. Reports set the ratio at around ten to one.

A deal would bring some respite to desperate people in Gaza, who have borne a staggering toll, as well as to the anguished families of Israeli hostages taken during Palestinian terror group Hamas’s massive October 7 attack that sparked the war.

As the two sides inched toward each other, Israeli officials were said to be optimistic after receiving, via Qatari mediators, a Hamas response to a deal proposal.

“The world sees a genocide of the Palestinian people. Hunger, forced displacement, savage bombardments are used as weapons. And the international community still hasn’t managed to adopt a unified position to end the war in Gaza and provide the strict minimum of protection for children, women, and civilians,” the Qatari leader Al Thani said in Paris, speaking through a translator.

“We are in a race against time to bring the hostages back to their families and at the same time we must work to put an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people,” he urged.

While the emir has made previous trips to France, the two-day state visit is his first since his accession to the throne in 2013.

His meetings with Macron come as negotiators from the United States, Egypt, and Qatar have been working to broker a deal in which Hamas would free some of the dozens of hostages it holds in exchange for Israel’s release of Palestinian prisoners and a six-week halt in the fighting.

The war erupted after Hamas led a devastating attack against Israel on October 7 that killed 1,200 people, mostly civilians, amid horrific atrocities including widespread gang-rape, torture and mutilation of victims. Some 3,000 attackers burst through the border with Gaza to rampage murderously through southern Israeli regions. Terrorists also kidnapped 253 people of all ages who were taken as hostages in Gaza.

Israel responded with an air, sea, and ground offensive to topple the Hamas regime in Gaza, destroy the terror group, and free the hostages over half of whom remain in captivity.

Channel 12 news reported Tuesday on what it said was the American proposal for a key part of a potential hostage release deal with Hamas: The number and nature of the Palestinian security prisoners who would be released in exchange for hostages held in Gaza since October 7.

In all, the report said, the US proposed at talks in Paris last week that some 400 Palestinian terror inmates would be released in exchange for 40 Israeli hostages during the planned six-week truce.

Twenty-one Palestinian security prisoners would be freed by Israel in exchange for the seven Israeli women who were to have been released on the final day of a previous truce, at the end of November, when Hamas reneged on the terms and the truce collapsed. That comes out to a three-to-one ratio.

Ninety Palestinian security prisoners would be released in exchange for five Israeli women soldiers held hostage, an 18-to-one ratio. Fifteen of those prisoners would reportedly be major terrorists with blood on their hands, including several mass murderers.

Another 90 prisoners would be released in exchange for 15 men among the hostages who are older than 50, a six-to-one ratio.

One hundred and fifty-six prisoners would be released in exchange for 13 Israeli male hostages who are ill or injured, a 12-to-one ratio.

Finally, according to the Channel 12 report, another 40 Palestinian security prisoners who were freed in the 2011 deal for the release of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, but who have since been rearrested for further terrorist activities, would also be released.

The report, which was unsourced, said the US proposal was put on the table in Paris, where the US, Israel, Egypt, and Qatar agreed on a new framework proposal for the potential deal.

It noted that despite US President Joe Biden’s optimistic talk Monday of a truce agreement by March 4, Israel remains pessimistic about an imminent deal coming to fruition.

The Kan public broadcaster reported that Qatari officials updated their Israeli counterparts Tuesday on Hamas’s response to some aspects of topics discussed at the talks. An unnamed Israeli official was quoted saying by the broadcaster that “there is very cautious optimism, but progress is slow and the gaps are large.”

The report also said that Hamas has yet to provide a list of living hostages held in Gaza or a list of the Palestinian prisoners it wants released. Israeli sources said that without those two pieces of information, negotiations cannot advance. There are 132 hostages who remain in Gaza, but Israel says about a quarter of them are dead. Israel also seeks the return of the remains of two Israeli soldiers who were killed during a previous 2014 conflict in Gaza.

The Associated Press cited a senior official from Egypt as saying Israel would allow displaced Palestinians to return to certain areas in northern Gaza. The Egyptian official said aid deliveries would be ramped up during the temporary ceasefire, with 300 to 500 trucks entering the beleaguered territory per day, far more than the daily average number of trucks entering since the start of the war.

The deliveries to areas across Gaza would be facilitated by Israel, whose forces would refrain from attacks on them and on police escorting the aid convoys, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss details of the talks with journalists.

Despite Biden’s optimism, both sides continue to posture ahead of any final agreement even as talks continue in Qatar. Both Israeli and Hamas officials downplayed any sense of progress.

Israel and Hamas have been far apart on their terms for a deal in the past, dragging out negotiations that appeared to have momentum.

Israel wants all female soldiers included in the first phase of hostage releases, according to an Israeli official who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing talks. Hamas views all soldiers as more significant bargaining chips and is likely to press back on this demand. The Egyptian official said the female soldiers were at this point being held off until after the first release.

The Egyptian official said the sides also are discussing how many Palestinians would be allowed to return to northern Gaza and whether to limit their return to women and men over 50.

Talks are also pinning down which areas of Gaza that Israel would withdraw troops from, the Egyptian official said, adding that Israel wants Hamas to refrain from using those it left as staging grounds for attacks. It also wants Hamas to stop firing rockets at southern Israel. Hamas has so far rejected both demands, the official said. On Tuesday, incoming rocket sirens sounded in the southern coastal city of Ashkelon for the first time in 10 days.

Alarms were also activated in several nearby communities.

A large fragment of an intercepted rocket landed on a parked car in Ashkelon. There were no injuries.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror group, based in Gaza and allied with Hamas, claimed responsibility, saying it fired several rockets at the city.

Rocket fire from the Gaza Strip has greatly subsided in recent months, amid the IDF’s ongoing ground offensive against Hamas. The initial October 7 terror attack came under cover of a barrage of thousands of rockets fired at many areas in Israel.

The emerging deal leaves a door open for Israel to operate in the southern border town of Rafah once it expires. More than half of Gaza’s population has fled to the southern city on the Egyptian border. Israel wants to destroy what it says are the few Hamas battalions left standing there. However, the international community, including the US, has raised fears over the possible high civilian casualties from such an operation and Washington has demanded a plan that enables non-combatants to evacuate to safe zones.

During the temporary ceasefire, both sides would negotiate toward an extension of the deal that the Egyptian official said would include the release of all the female soldiers in exchange for a higher number of imprisoned Palestinians, including those serving long sentences for deadly attacks.

After the female soldiers, Israel will seek to free male soldiers for whom Hamas will likely demand a high price. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to agree to a deal at any cost. But the families of the hostages, whose plight has deeply shaken Israelis, are likely to ramp up pressure if others are freed.

The US hopes the new deal will be a launching pad for implementing its vision for a postwar Gaza that would eventually lead to the creation of a Palestinian state. It wants Gaza to be governed by a revamped Palestinian Authority, which administers part of the West Bank. On Monday, the PA took a first step that could usher in US-backed reforms by disbanding the self-rule government.

Israel wants to retain overall security control in the Gaza Strip and has rejected having world powers impose a state on it.

Biden said on Monday that Israel would be willing to pause its war on Hamas in Gaza during the upcoming Islamic holy month of Ramadan if a deal is reached to release some of the hostages held by the terrorists.

Israeli officials said Biden’s comments came as a surprise and were not made in coordination with the country’s leadership. A Hamas official played down any sense of progress, saying the group wouldn’t soften its demands.

An Israeli official familiar with the developments told Kan “We are optimistic that there will be a deal, but not on Monday as President Biden said.”

Negotiations were continuing Tuesday in Qatar.

The start of Ramadan, which is expected to be around March 10, is seen as an unofficial deadline for a ceasefire. The month is a time of heightened religious observance and dawn-to-dusk fasting for hundreds of millions of Muslims around the world.

Meanwhile, a senior UN aid official told the Security Council at least 576,000 people in the Gaza Strip – a quarter of the population – are one step away from famine, warning that widespread famine could be “almost inevitable” without action.

One in six children under 2 years of age in northern Gaza is suffering from acute malnutrition and wasting and practically all the 2.3 million people in the Palestinian enclave rely on “woefully inadequate” food aid to survive, Ramesh Rajasingham, director of coordination for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told the council.

The World Food Program “is ready to swiftly expand and scale up our operations if there is a ceasefire agreement,” WFP Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau told the 15-member council.

“But in the meantime, the risk of famine is being fueled by the inability to bring critical food supplies into Gaza in sufficient quantities, and the almost impossible operating conditions faced by our staff on the ground,” he said.

Emmanuel Macron said on X, formerly Twitter, that France and Qatar in a joint operation chartered humanitarian and medical aid on Tuesday for “the people of Gaza.”

Macron said “75 tons of freight, 10 ambulances, food rations, 300 family tents” arrived in el-Arish airport in Egypt, near the Rafah crossing to Gaza.

France and Qatar also mediated a deal in January for the shipment of medicine for the dozens of hostages held by Hamas. Qatar authorities said last week that Hamas has started delivering the medication.

On Wednesday, the prime ministers of Qatar and France will chair an economic forum to boost investments in sectors such as artificial intelligence, health, green technologies, transport, and tourism.

Nearly 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war began, according to Hamas-run health authorities, though these figures cannot be independently verified, and are believed to include both civilians and Hamas members killed in Gaza, including as a consequence of terror groups’ own rocket misfires. The IDF says it has killed over 12,000 operatives in Gaza, in addition to some 1,000 terrorists inside Israel on October 7.