A senior Hamas official says the group is ready to discuss “freezing or storing” its stockpile of weapons as part of the ceasefire deal to end Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip. The overture came as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said several key issues still needed to be resolved before he’d commit to the second phase of the U.S.-backed ceasefire plan, which he’s planning to discuss with President Trump at the end of December. On Saturday, Qatar and Egypt called on Israel to fully withdraw from Gaza and for an international stabilization force to be deployed. This is Qatar’s Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.

Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani: “Now we are at a critical moment. It’s not — it’s not yet there. So what we have just done is a pause. We cannot consider it yet a ceasefire. A ceasefire cannot be completed unless there is a full withdrawal of the Israeli forces, there is stability back in Gaza, people can go in and out, which is not the case today.”