Israel proposed the Gaza ceasefire, Hamas says “Will answer within 48 hours”


Gaza City:

Nearly a month after Israel started his aerial and ground attacks in Gaza, Palestinian Armed Group says that it received a new ceasefire proposal from Israel.

A senior Hamas official told AFP that the group would respond to “most likely” within 48 hours.

The weekend was proposed to a group delegation in Cairo by Egyptian officials, who are mediation in the ceasefire negotiations.

What is the proposal?

Another senior Hamas official told AFP late Monday that Israel had proposed a 45-day ceasefire in exchange for the release of 10 living hostages.

In turn, Israel will free 1,231 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails and allow humanitarian aid in the Palestinian region, which is completely blocked from 2 March.

During Hamas’s October 7, 2023, the attack on Israel, who instigated the war in Gaza, kidnapped 251 hostages by Palestinian militants, of which 58 are still held in Gaza, including 34 Israeli army.

A previous ceasefire launched on January 19, resulting in about 1,800 Palestinian prisoners before two months, was released in exchange for 33 hostages.

The latest proposal also suggests that unlike the previous release that incorporates public functions in Gaza, any hostage release occurs privately, which has widely criticized in Israel.

What is the proposed timeline?

The Hamas official said that Israeli’s proposal on the first day of the ceasefire calls for the release of Israel-American mortgage Aden Alexander as “gestures of goodwill”.

Alexander is the only living mortgage to hold American citizenship.

On the second day, Hamas will exchange five more hostages for 66 Palestinian prisoners, who will serve the sentence of 611 ghazans detained in Israeli jails and detained during the current war.

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On the third day, talks will begin after the “day after day” to end the war, which includes disarmament of Hamas and other Palestinian groups in exchange for a permanent ceasefire.

Hamas has insisted that preserving your arms is a red line.

In the second week of the ceasefire, Hamas will leave four more living hostages in exchange for 54 Palestinian prisoners, who will serve life and serve another 500 Gaza prisoners.

Israel’s public broadcaster, Cannes 11, said the proposal also determines that Hamas leaves the bodies of 16 hostages on the 20th day of the ceasefire.

What Hamas has said?

Hamas’s negotiators visited Cairo last week, where he received the proposal, a member of the group’s political bureau, Suhail al-Hindi, told the AFP on Tuesday.

The official who spoke to the AFP a day earlier on Tuesday said that “Hamas will send his response to the mediators within the next 48 hours, as the movement is still conducting intensive consultation … within its leadership structure, as well as with resistance groups, to prepare an integrated position”.

He said that counseling was ongoing, and that Hamas was “eager to end aggression and war” but would require a guarantee from Egypt, Qatar and American mediators that the Israel would maintain its side of the deal.

He said, “Hamas has no issue with the number of prisoners and is ready to release them all once or in batches.”

What is Israel saying?

Israel is silent on the latest offer.

However, the campaign group of hostage families, the Tikwa Forum, which represents a small group of families of hostages advocating the continuity of military pressure, said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu confirmed that the country was actually demanding the release of 10 living prisoners.

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According to the group, Netanyahu spoke with the mother of the hostage Avinatan, Deitza or, at the end of Monday, and confirmed that Alexander was among those involved in the proposed exchange.

The group said, “He replied saying that” there is a moral obligation to return everyone together on a platform and in a bus. ,

(Except for the headline, the story has not been edited by NDTV employees and is published by a syndicated feed.)