Qatar’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed al-Ansari says the ceasefire agreement marks “a historic day that we have been waiting for for years, especially during the past two years”.

Asked by Fox News about the prospects of moving to phase two of the agreement, al-Ansari said, “We had delayed a lot of discussions around stage one … in order to make sure stage one happens.

“The difficult discussions have begun, as to how it will look like [phase 2] to secure Gaza, administer it and ensure that there is no war again,” he added.