The terrorist group Hamas accepted a draft agreement for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and the release of dozens of hostages according to information from two authorities involved in the negotiations this Tuesday, 14. Qatar, one of the countries carrying out the mediation negotiations, stated that an agreement was “close”.
The Associated Press obtained a copy of the proposed agreement, and an Egyptian official and a Hamas official confirmed its authenticity. An Israeli official said progress had been made but details were being finalized. The plan would need to be submitted to the Israeli Cabinet for final approval.
All three officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the closed-door negotiations.
Sources involved in the discussion expressed growing optimism that they can conclude a deal before US President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20.
Qatari Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari said at a weekly briefing on Tuesday that ongoing negotiations were positive and productive, although he declined to go into details. “Today, we are at the closest point to an agreement,” he said.
Terrorist group Hamas said in a statement that ongoing negotiations had reached their “final stage.”
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Phases of the agreement
The three-phase agreement – based on a framework established by US President Joe Biden and endorsed by the UN Security Council – would begin with the gradual release of 33 hostages over a six-week period, including women, children , elderly and injured civilians in exchange for potentially hundreds of Palestinian women and children imprisoned by Israel.
Among the 33 would be five Israeli soldiers, each of whom would be released in exchange for 50 Palestinian prisoners, including 30 convicted terrorists who are serving life sentences. At the end of the first phase, all civilian hostages – living or dead – will have been released.
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During this first 42-day phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from population centers, Palestinians would be allowed to begin returning to their homes in northern Gaza, and there would be an increase in humanitarian aid, with around 600 trucks entering the area each day. enclave.
The details of the second phase must still be negotiated during the first phase. These details remain difficult to resolve – and the deal does not include written guarantees that the ceasefire will continue until an agreement is reached, signaling that Israel could resume its military campaign after the first phase ends.
The three mediators, however, gave Hamas verbal assurances that negotiations will continue as planned and that they will push for an agreement to implement the second and third phases before the end of the first, the Egyptian official said.
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The deal would also allow Israel, during the first phase, to remain in control of the Philadelphia Corridor, the strip of territory along Gaza’s border with Egypt from which Hamas had initially demanded Israel withdraw. But Israel would withdraw from the Netzarim Corridor, a belt in central Gaza where the Israeli Army had created a mechanism to search Palestinians when they returned to the north of the territory.
In the second phase, Hamas would release the remainder of the abductees alive, mainly male soldiers, in exchange for more prisoners and the “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza, according to the draft agreement.
The terrorist group pointed out that it would not release the remaining hostages without an end to the war and a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu promised to only end the war after destroying Hamas’ military capabilities.
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In a third phase, the bodies of the remaining hostages would be returned in exchange for a three- to five-year reconstruction plan that would be carried out in Gaza under international supervision.
Trump inauguration
Israel and Hamas are under renewed pressure to halt the conflict before Donald Trump’s inauguration on January 20. The Republican’s future Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, recently joined the team of mediators in Doha, Qatar.
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In an interview with American broadcaster Newsmax, the president-elect stated that a ceasefire was “near”.
The war in the Middle East began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas terrorists invaded southern Israel, killed 12,000 people and kidnapped 250. This was the largest terrorist attack in Israel’s history and the largest against Jews since the Holocaust.
After the attack, Israel began an operation in the Gaza Strip, which included a ground invasion and aerial bombardment and has left more than 46,000 dead in the Palestinian enclave, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which is controlled by Hamas and does not differentiate between civilians. of terrorists from the group./With AP
