2024-02-28 15:35:23
What do we know regarding the possible agreement between Israel and Hamas?
There have been many reports regarding the possible agreement between Israel and Hamas regarding the war in Gaza, especially following US President Joe Biden announced that Israel had agreed to stop its attack in Gaza during the month of Ramadan as part of a ceasefire agreement being negotiated.
Members of the Israeli army walk in front of the ruins of a destroyed building in the Zaytoun neighborhood in Gaza City (AFP)
The American Associated Press news agency said that the agreement appears to have begun to take shape, and quoted a senior Egyptian official as saying that the broad outlines of the agreement will include the entry into force of a six-week ceasefire, and that Hamas will agree to release up to 40 hostages. Most of them are civilian women, in addition to at least two children, the oldest and the sick. In return, Israel will release at least 300 Palestinian prisoners held in its prisons, and will also allow displaced Palestinians to return to certain areas in northern Gaza, which were the first target of the Israeli ground attack. It suffered widespread destruction.
Intensifying aid delivery
The Egyptian official added that aid deliveries will be intensified during the ceasefire, as between 300 and 500 trucks enter the besieged area daily, which is much more than the daily average number of trucks entering since the beginning of the war.
The official stated that Israel will facilitate the delivery of aid to areas throughout Gaza, as its forces will refrain from launching attacks on them and on the police forces accompanying aid convoys.
The agency pointed out that there are sticking points despite Biden’s optimism, as the positions of Israel and Hamas were divergent regarding their conditions for reaching an agreement in the past, which led to delaying the negotiations that seemed to have momentum.
The agency quoted an Israeli official as saying that Israel wants to include all female soldiers in the first phase of the hostage release. In contrast, Hamas views all soldiers as more important bargaining chips, and is likely to press this request once more.
Israeli army patrol in the Gaza Strip (Reuters)
Disagreements over female soldiers
The Egyptian official said that female recruits were postponed at this stage until following the first stage of the release process, and added that the two sides are also discussing the number of Palestinians who will be allowed to return to northern Gaza and whether the return will be limited to women and men over the age of 50.
The Egyptian official continued that the talks also determine the areas of Gaza from which Israel will withdraw its forces, adding that Israel wants Hamas to refrain from using the areas it left to launch attacks, and it also wants Hamas to stop firing rockets at southern Israel.
The official stated that Hamas has so far rejected both requests.
According to the agency, this agreement leaves the door open for Israel to operate in the southern border city of Rafah once it expires. More than half of Gaza’s population has fled to the southern city located on the Egyptian border, and Israel wants to destroy what it says are the few remaining “Hamas” brigades there.
What’s left to negotiate?
The news agency reported that during the temporary ceasefire, the two sides will negotiate an extension of the agreement, which the Egyptian official said would include the release of all female soldiers in exchange for a larger number of imprisoned Palestinians, including those serving long sentences for launching attacks once morest Israel. After the female soldiers, Israel will seek to release the male soldiers for whom Hamas will likely demand a high price.
A Palestinian man walks near the ruins of a building in the Maghazi Palestinian refugee camp (AFP)
Return of displaced persons
A senior source familiar with the discussions also told Reuters that the currently proposed draft includes a 40-day truce during which Hamas will release 40 hostages, including women and children under 19 years of age, those over 50 years of age, and the sick, in exchange for the release of 400 Palestinian detainees, at a rate of ten. For one.
He added that Israel will redeploy its forces outside the populated areas, and the residents of Gaza, with the exception of males in the age group during which they can fight, will be allowed to return to the areas from which they were previously displaced, and the volume of aid to the Gaza Strip will increase, including the entry of equipment that is urgently needed to shelter the displaced.
For its part, Agence France-Presse said that under the new truce proposal, “Hamas will release 42 Israeli women and children under the age of 18, in addition to the sick and elderly. In return, Palestinian prisoners will be released in a ratio of 10 to one,” and in addition to Therefore, the movement requests an increase in the number of aid trucks entering the Gaza Strip, according to a source in Hamas.
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