Click to see the full-size image
The Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) continues to take losses in the Gaza Strip amid reports suggesting that a ceasefire and a prisoner exchange deal with the Hamas Movement is near.
Qatar, a key mediator between Israel and Hamas, said on November 14 that a day earlier it had presented both parties with a “final” draft of the agreement. In addition, The Associated Press reported that Hamas accepted the deal as well, citing two officials involved in the talks.
Nevertheless, CNN later cited an Egyptian official as saying the mediating countries,Qatar, Egypt, and the United States, had not yet received a response from Hamas.
Saudi outlet Al-Hadath reported that Hamas had started dividing the hostages into groups, ahead of their expected release.
Qatar’s foreign ministry said it believed the talks were “at the final stages,” expressing hope that a deal was imminent, but cautioning that “until there is an announcement… we shouldn’t be over-excited about what’s happening right now.”
Foreign Ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari told a news conference that most obstacles had been overcome, but did not go into detail.
A Palestinian source close to the talks was cited by Reuters as expecting the deal to be finalized on November 14, if “all goes well.”
The three-phase agreement is based on a framework laid out by U.S. President Joe Biden and endorsed by the UN Security Council. It would begin with the gradual release of 33 hostages over a six-week period, including women, children, adults over the age of 50, and severely sick and wounded civilians.
In exchange, Israel would release many hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners. The BBC put the number at 1,000 prisoners, including approximately 190 who have been serving sentences of 15 years or more.
The deal would allow the IDF during the first phase to remain in control of the Philadelphi Corridor, the band of territory along Gaza’s border with Egypt. Israel would pull out, however, from the Netzarim Corridor, a belt across central Gaza.
A week into the truce, the IDF would begin allowing the return of displaced Gazans from the south to the north, according to the BBC.
In the second phase, Hamas would release the remaining living captives — non-wounded adult males under the age of 50, all of whom Hamas considers “soldiers” — in exchange for more security prisoners and the “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza, according to the draft agreement cited by AP.
In a third phase, the bodies of remaining hostages would be returned in exchange for a three- to five-year reconstruction plan to be carried out in Gaza under international supervision.
The progress in the ceasefire talks came as the IDF took more losses in Gaza. On January 11, the IDF announced that four soldiers were killed and six were wounded during fighting in northern Gaza. And on January 13, it said that five soldiers were killed and ten others were wounded in the same part of the Strip.
The latest deaths brought the IDF toll since the start of ground operations in Gaza and along its border to 407. More than 2,500 others have been wounded so far.
Meanwhile on the other side, the Israeli war has so far claimed the lives of more than 46,000 Palestinians, mainly women and children.
All in all, it appears that both Israel and Hamas are finally ready for a ceasefire in Gaza. This came after the U.S. President-elect Donald Trump warned the Palestinian group that it should release the hostages before he assumes office. Trump also reportedly mounted considerable pressure on the Israeli side.
MORE ON THE TOPIC:
