An agreement on the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of Palestinian prisoners and a “truce” in the war between Israel and Palestinian Hamas appears close, Palestinian sources and the Qatar.
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reported “progress” in the case of some 240 hostages taken, according to Israeli authorities, to the Gaza Strip after the bloody and unprecedented attack launched on October 7 by Hamas on Israeli soil. .
The hostages are in the hands of Hamas and Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian armed group which participated in the October 7 attack carried out from the Gaza Strip, a border territory in the south of Israel and where the Islamist movement Hamas took power in 2007.
Qatar, Egypt and the United States are involved in the negotiations. Israel promised to annihilate Hamas and has since relentlessly bombed the Gaza Strip.
“Final phase” according to Doha
Negotiations for the release of the hostages are in the “final phase”, Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said on Tuesday. “We have never been closer to an agreement,” he said.
Benjamin Netanyahu reported “progress” in the hostage file.
“We are making progress. I don’t think it’s helpful to say too much… but I hope there will be good news soon,” he said on a daily basis. military in the north of the country, without referring to a truce.
His office then announced, “in view of the developments concerning the release of our hostages”, an evening meeting of the war government.
Haniyeh speaks of a “close” agreement
On Tuesday, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, based in Doha, announced in a brief message on Telegram that his movement had “delivered its response to the brothers of Qatar and the mediators. We are approaching the conclusion of a truce agreement” .
Two sources close to the matter told AFP on Tuesday that an agreement would involve the release of “50 to 100” civilian hostages in exchange for the release of 300 women and children detained by Israel. The transfer would take place in stages at the rate of “ten” Israeli hostages against “thirty” Palestinian prisoners per day.
Disputed point
But according to the same sources, Israel insisted on “family reunification” – which means that if a civilian was released, his partner would also be, even if he was a soldier – which Hamas, opposed to the release of soldiers , refuses for the moment.
“Qatar and Egypt are currently working with the US administration to resolve this issue,” they said. And “as soon as this point is resolved, the date of a five-day humanitarian truce, possibly renewable, will be announced.”
Five-day truce
The five-day truce provides for “a complete ceasefire and a cessation of flights by Israeli planes over the Gaza Strip, except over the north of the territory where planes will be able to fly for 18 hours a day”, still according to sources close to the matter.
This northern part represents a third of the Gaza Strip, and some 800,000 people are still there according to the UN.
The agreement would also include the entry into the Gaza Strip, including in the north, of 100 to 300 trucks of food and medical aid as well as fuel, these sources added.
“Confident”
“We are confident. But there is still work to do. Nothing is done until everything is done,” White House National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Monday of a hostage agreement.
To a journalist who asked him if “an agreement to release the hostages was close”, American President Joe Biden replied: “I think so”.
