Hamas proposes three-stage ceasefire; Blinken arrives in Israel in his push for a truce in Gaza

A new truce offer is on the table, just as the war in Gaza marks four months.

This Wednesday, February 7, the counterproposal of the Islamist group Hamas for a cessation of hostilities in the Palestinian enclave was publicly known. According to a document cited by Reuters, the movement raises a ceasefire divided into three stages, each lasting 45 days, for a total of 135 days.

During that time, there would be the exchange of the remaining hostages in the hands of the group that controls Gaza by Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails.

Hamas calls the release of 1,500 prisonersa third of whom would select from a list of Palestinians sentenced to life in prison by Israeli authorities.

Regarding the kidnapped people – captured in Israel on October 7 – the group points out that all women, men under 19, the elderly and the sick would be delivered during the first phase, in exchange for the release of Palestinian women and children in Israeli prisons.

The remaining male hostages would be released during the second phase. In the third stage, the delivery of the bodies and mortal remains between the two parties to the conflict must be recorded. At the end of the third stage, Hamas hopes, through mediators, to have reached an agreement with the Israeli Army on the end of the current war.

Therefore, the movement proposes that the truce must lead to a complete cessation of ongoing hostilities and with that it should begin the reconstruction of the enclave Palestinian, as well as the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops.

This is the group's response to a provisional truce offer that it confirmed it received at the end of last January, following talks between the mediators – Egypt, Qatar and the US – with Israeli officials in Paris.

Biden called Hamas proposal “exaggerated”

The details of Hamas' counteroffer are publicly known a day after Qatar described the Islamist movement's proposal as “positive.”

However, Hamas' plan could encounter obstacles.

On Tuesday, February 6, the president of the United States, Joe Biden, a great ally of Israel, called Hamas's response excessive.

“There has been a response from Hamas, but it seems a bit exaggerated. We're not sure where he is. There is a negotiation underway at this time,” said the US president.

Likewise, last Monday, February 5, without specifying what Hamas' requests were, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu assured that his Government “will not accept” the demands that the Islamist group presented for the release of the remaining hostages held. found in Gaza.

A statement from the ruling Likud party quoted the premier as saying that the terms for the handover of the more than 100 kidnapped people remaining in the Palestinian enclave “should be similar to the previous agreement.”

A reference to last November's truce, in which approximately one hostage was exchanged for every three Palestinian prisoners. All those released from Israeli prisons were women and minors.

However, on the evening of Tuesday, February 6, Netanyahu's office indicated that The details of Hamas' response are being “carefully evaluated by officials involved in the negotiations.”

Added to this scenario is the position of Saudi Arabia, which this Wednesday indicated that it will not establish ties with Israel without its troops having withdrawn from the Gaza Strip. The nation even intensifies its demands and makes the recognition of a Palestinian State a condition.

“The Kingdom has communicated its firm position to the US Administration that there will be no diplomatic relations with Israel unless an independent Palestinian State is recognized on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital, and that Israeli aggression on the Strip Gaza cease and all Israeli occupation forces withdraw from the Gaza Strip,” the statement said.

The kingdom's conditions are significant, since – in addition to the truce – the normalization of relations between the oil-rich country and Washington's great ally in the Middle East has been one of the central axes of the US Secretary of State's agenda. US, Antony Blinken, who mediated in Riyadh on this matter last week.

Blinken arrives in Israel amid discussions on a truce with Hamas

It is his fifth visit to the region since ongoing hostilities broke out four months ago and his stop in Israel matches expectations after Hamas' counteroffer became known.

The highest representative of American diplomacy arrived in Israeli territory early this Wednesday, after meeting with the leaders of Qatar and Egypt, in the most serious diplomatic push of the war so far, aimed at reaching an extended truce.

Blinken is expected to discuss Hamas's response with the Israeli government.

Recently, during his stop in Doha, the Secretary of State stated that “there is still a lot of work to do,” but stressed that he continued to believe that “an agreement is possible and, in fact, essential.”

While the discussions continue, there is no respite for the ordeal that Gazans experience daily. In the midst of incessant attacks by the Israeli Army, The death toll rose to at least 27,708indicated the local Ministry of Health this February 7.

With Reuters, AP and local media