Israel and Hamas are getting closer to an agreement for the ceasefire before Donald Trump’s arrival at the White House. Negotiators will meet in Doha, Qatar, this Tuesday to finalize the details of the plan and end the Gaza war that began on October 7, 2023. “Over the last few months, there were underlying issues, important issues between the two sides. that had not been resolved. These issues were resolved during the talks of the last two weeks and, therefore, We have reached a point where the main issues preventing an agreement have been addressed», declared the spokesman for the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Majed al-Ansari, in a press conference.
The mediators gave Israel and Hamas a final draft which includes a “breakthrough” to end the conflict. Both the envoys of the outgoing US president and the president-elect attended the drafting of the agreement. Hamas has confirmed indirect negotiations with Israel are “in their final stages.” The jihadist group has indicated in a statement that it has maintained “a series of contacts and consultations” with senior officials from other Palestinian factions to inform them of the “progress” obtained in the negotiations in Doha.
Hamas has also pointed out that the leadership of the Islamist group and representatives of other Palestinian factions “have expressed their wish that this round of negotiations concludes with a clear and comprehensive agreement», after Israel launched an offensive against the enclave following the aforementioned attacks in October 2023.
«The agreement would free the hostages“It would stop the fighting, provide security for Israel, and allow us to significantly increase humanitarian aid to the Palestinians who suffered terribly in this war that Hamas started,” Joe Biden said in a speech on Monday to highlight his foreign policy achievements.
If successful, the ceasefire agreement would end more than a year of on-again, off-again talks and would mark the largest release of Israeli hostages since the early days of the conflict, when Hamas freed about half of its prisoners in exchange for 240 Palestinians held by Israel.
“I think there is a good chance that we can close it, the parties are on the verge of being able to close this agreement,” Jake Sullivan, Biden’s national security adviser, told reporters on Monday. Hamas has already expressed its desire to reach an agreement to end the fighting, which has disrupted the Middle East. An Israeli official stated that negotiations for the release of up to 33 hostages were well advanced. Ninety-eight hostages remain in Gazaaccording to Israeli authorities.
Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar told the press: “There is progressthe situation seems much better than before. “I want to thank our American friends for the enormous efforts they are investing in reaching an agreement on the hostages.” “The negotiation on some fundamental issues has progressed and we are working to conclude what remains soon,” said a Hamas official.
Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters stormed its borders in October 2023, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli counts. Since then, mMore than 46,000 people have died in Gaza, according to Palestinian health authorities, and much of the enclave has been razed and most of its population displaced.
For months, the warring parties have agreed on the principle of stopping the fighting in exchange for the release of Hamas hostages and Palestinians detained by Israel. But Hamas has always insisted that a deal must lead to a permanent end to the war and an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, while Israel has said it will not end the war until Hamas is dismantled.
The phases for the return of Israeli hostages
Trump’s inauguration on January 20 is now considered a de facto deadline for a ceasefire agreement. Trump has said there will be “hell to pay” unless the hostages held by Hamas are freed before his inauguration. Blinken said negotiators wanted to ensure Trump would continue to support the deal on the table, which is why Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, along with Biden’s envoy Brett McGurk, attended the ceasefire talks. , has been “fundamental.”
An Israeli official who briefed reporters on the proposed deal said that in his In the first stage, 33 hostages would be released, including children, women, some of them female soldiers, men over 50 and injured and sick.
On the 16th day of the ceasefire, negotiations on a second phase in which the rest of the live hostages would be released -male soldiers and men of military age- and the bodies of the dead hostages would be returned. The agreement would contemplate a gradual withdrawal of troopswith Israeli forces remaining on the border perimeter to defend Israeli border towns and villages. Security measures would be adopted in the Philadelphi corridor, along the southern tip of Gaza, from which Israel would withdraw after the first days of the agreement.
Unarmed residents of northern Gaza would be allowed to return, with a mechanism to ensure that weapons are not moved there. Israeli troops will withdraw from the Netzarim corridor, in central Gaza. The Israeli official said that Palestinian militants convicted of murder or deadly attacks would also be freedbut the number would depend on the number of living hostages, which was still unknown, and would not include the fighters who participated in the attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.
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