2024-01-23 08:45:15
Two Israeli “proposals” for a two-month truce and a more comprehensive ceasefire agreement… What do they include?
American media revealed “proposals” made by Israel to release detainees held by Hamas, amid the ongoing conflict in the Gaza Strip, which has claimed the lives of more than 25,000 Palestinians and injured more than 60,000 others.
The American news website Axios reported that Israel had proposed to Hamas, through the Qatari and Egyptian mediators, a two-month truce in the ongoing war between the two parties, in exchange for the movement releasing all the hostages it is holding in the Gaza Strip.
According to Axios, this proposal does not mean the end of the war in the Gaza Strip, but rather a second truce after the one that lasted a week and allowed the release of about a hundred hostages kidnapped by Hamas from southern Israel during its unprecedented attack on October 7.
On that day, the movement released these hostages in exchange for Israel’s ceasefire and the release of 240 Palestinian prisoners.
Palestinians flee from Khan Yunis (AP)
According to the Israeli authorities, who are under intense pressure from the families of the hostages to accept a new exchange agreement, 132 hostages are still being held in the Gaza Strip, 28 of whom are believed to be dead.
The Israeli proposal, according to Axios, stipulates the release of all hostages held in Gaza in stages, the first of which includes civilian women and men over the age of 60.
In the subsequent stages, military women are released, then civilian men under the age of 60, then military men, and finally the bodies of the hostages, according to Axios.
The website also indicated that, within the framework of the plan, Israel and Hamas must agree in advance on the number of Palestinian prisoners who will be released for each hostage that is released, according to the category to which this hostage belongs, and then agree on the names of the Palestinian prisoners who will be released. They will be released.
This plan does not foresee an end to the war between Israel and Hamas or even a long-term political solution, but rather a redeployment of Israeli forces outside the main cities in the Palestinian Strip and the gradual return of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who were displaced from the north to the south of the Strip.
Axios’ publication of the details of this plan comes at a time when US President Joe Biden’s senior advisor for Middle East affairs, Brett McGurk, is visiting Egypt and Qatar this week.
The Wall Street Journal said on Sunday that the United States, Egypt and Qatar are trying to persuade Israel and Hamas to agree to release the hostages within a period of 90 days in exchange for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip.
Departure of senior Hamas leaders
CNN said on Tuesday that Israel had presented a proposal requiring the departure of senior leaders of the Palestinian Hamas movement from the Gaza Strip, as part of what it described as a more comprehensive ceasefire agreement in the Strip.
The American network quoted two sources, which it described as insiders, without mentioning their names, saying that the proposal was discussed at least twice last month by the head of Israeli intelligence (Mossad), once in the Polish capital, Warsaw, and the second during US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken’s visit to Israel.
According to the news network, the discussions did not appear to address the names of the senior leaders whom Israel proposes to leave the sector, where the Israeli army has been waging a fierce war for three and a half months.
More than 25,000 people were killed and more than 60,000 others were injured in the Israeli bombing campaign, according to what was reported by the Arab World News Agency.
CNN reported that the Mossad chief also discussed the proposal with CIA Director William Burns. She said that the Prime Minister of Qatar, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdul Rahman Al Thani, informed Blinken in Doha that this proposal was not applicable.
She added, quoting the Qatari Prime Minister, that the reason is due to Hamas’ lack of confidence that Israel will stop its war, even if its leaders agree to leave Gaza.
However, the network reported that the Israeli proposal comes amid an intensification of diplomatic activity to try to reach a long-term cessation of fighting and the release of Israeli detainees in Gaza.
She also said that American and international officials, whom she described as familiar with the negotiations, said that the recent participation of Israel and Hamas in the talks was “encouraging,” but it did not seem that reaching an agreement would be imminent.
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