GAUZE:
Hamas has proposed a cease-fire plan that would silence weapons in Gaza for four and a half months, during which time all hostages would be freed, Israel would withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip and an agreement would be reached to end her the war.
The resistance group’s proposal – a response to an offer sent last week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators – comes in the biggest diplomatic push yet for an extended cessation of fighting and was met with hope and relief in the Gaza Strip.
There was no immediate public response from Israel, which said it would not withdraw its troops from Gaza until Hamas was eliminated.
According to a draft document seen by Reuters, Hamas’s counter-proposal calls for three phases of truce, each lasting 45 days. The remaining Israeli hostages captured on October 7 will be exchanged for Palestinian prisoners. The reconstruction of Gaza would begin, Israeli forces would be fully withdrawn, and bodies and remains would be exchanged.
US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken arrived overnight in Israel after meeting with the leaders of the Qatari and Egyptian mediators in an effort to reach an extended truce.
A source close to the negotiations said Hamas’s counter-proposal did not require a guarantee of a permanent ceasefire at the outset, but that an end to the war would have to be agreed during the truce before the final hostages were released.
According to the document, during the first 45-day phase, all Israeli female hostages, men under the age of 19, and the elderly and sick will be released, in exchange for the release of Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons. Israel will also withdraw its troops from residential areas during the first phase.
Implementation of the second phase will not begin until the sides complete “indirect talks on the requirements needed to end mutual military operations and return to full calm.”
The second phase will include the release of the remaining male hostages and “the withdrawal of Israeli forces outside the borders of all areas of the Gaza Strip.”
Corpses and relics would be exchanged during the third phase. The truce will also increase the flow of food and other aid to Gaza’s desperate citizens, who are facing starvation and dire shortages of basic supplies.
Reading Dozens killed in overnight raids as Hamas considers Gaza truce proposal
“People are hopeful, at the same time they are praying that this hope will turn into a real deal that will end the war,” said Yameen Hamad, a father of four who lives at a UN school in Deir al-Ballah in the central Strip Gaza. .
“People are waiting for news of a ceasefire, they are a bit hopeful despite the ongoing shelling,” he told Reuters via a messaging app.
Israel’s brutal military offensive has killed at least 27,585 Palestinians, with thousands more feared buried under the rubble.
Israel’s recent war on Gaza came after Hamas resistance fighters raided the Israeli-occupied territories, killing 1,200 people and taking 253 hostages on October 7, 2023, in response to Israel’s prolonged settler colonial violence. So far, the only truce lasted just a week in late November.
Blinken to meet Netanyahu
Blinken is due to discuss the Hamas counterproposal with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later on Wednesday.
Washington pitched the hostage and cease-fire deal as part of plans for a broader resolution to the Middle East conflict, ultimately leading to reconciliation between Israel and its Arab neighbors and the creation of a Palestinian state.
“We’re going to work as hard as possible to try to reach an agreement so that we can move forward – not only with a renewed but an expanded hostage agreement – and all the benefits that would come with it,” Blinken said. . at a press conference in Doha late Tuesday.
Netanyahu has rejected a Palestinian state, which Saudi Arabia, the biggest prize in Israel’s quest for acceptance from its Middle Eastern neighbors, says is a requirement of any deal to normalize relations with Israel.
The diplomatic push comes at a time of intense fighting in Gaza, with Israel pushing to capture the enclave’s main southern city, Khan Younis, and fighting also rekindling in northern areas Israel claimed to have subdued months ago .
Last week, Israel said it planned to invade Rafah, the town along the border fence at the southern tip of Gaza, now teeming with more than half of Gaza’s population sheltering mostly in public buildings and makeshift tents .
Health officials in Rafah said 11 people were killed in Israeli strikes in the town overnight, sparking panic among some displaced people there who fear it could be the start of an Israeli offensive in the area.
The Israeli military said it had killed dozens of “militants” in the fighting over the past 24 hours. He has made similar claims throughout the fighting in Khan Younis, which could not be independently verified.
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