Foreign negotiations with Hamas
Release 20 hostages and ceasefire – This is what the Gaza deal should include
As of: 02:48 a.m. | Reading time: 2 minutes
Tent city with Palestinians in Rafah
Quelle: AFP/-
Israel and the Islamist Hamas are negotiating through mediators from Egypt, the USA and Qatar over the hostages in Gaza and a ceasefire. Reports now detail Israel’s concessions – which go far.
During negotiations underway in Cairo for a ceasefire in the Gaza war, details have emerged about a proposal for an agreement submitted by the Islamist Hamas. Like the “Wall Street Journal” citing Egyptian officials reportedthe proposal – which Israel was involved in drafting but which it still has to agree to – envisages two stages.
The first stage would involve the release of at least 20 hostages within three weeks in exchange for an unspecified number of Palestinian prisoners. The duration could be extended by one day for each additional hostage, it said. A second stage would include a 10-week ceasefire in which Hamas and Israel would agree to a larger release of hostages and a longer pause in fighting that could last up to a year.
“Israel has shown itself to be more than just flexible in reaching an agreement,” it quoted Times of Israel newspaper an Israeli official. As a first step, the number of hostages to be released by Hamas was reduced. Israel is also open to the possibility that Palestinians who fled the fighting in the south of the sealed-off Gaza Strip return to the north without Israeli security checks, it said. One of the options currently being examined is for Egypt to take over the security controls, the Israeli newspaper reported.
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The Israeli government expects a response from Hamas to the latest offer on Wednesday evening, the newspaper further quoted the Israeli official as saying. Israel is ready to send a delegation to the indirect negotiations in Cairo in the coming days, the Wall Street Journal quoted Israeli and Egyptian officials as saying. Israel sees the latest proposal as a “last chance”.
If an agreement with Hamas is not reached soon, the announced ground offensive will begin in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, Israeli media recently quoted senior officials as saying.
Preparations for an offensive in Rafah are continuing, an official told the Wall Street Journal. “Time is of the essence, but I cannot set a deadline here,” US National Security Council Communications Director John Kirby said on Tuesday. The Israelis negotiated “with good intentions”. Hamas should accept the proposal. The Islamist organization insists on an end to the war, which Israel rejects. Both sides are not negotiating directly, but through mediators Egypt, Qatar and the USA.