Pressure from the mediators and Israel’s threat to attack Rafah by the end of the week appear to have had their effect. The newspaper HaaretzHamas reportedly accepted the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip after receiving guarantees from the United States that the IDF will not attack the exclave after the hostages are freed.
This detail was also mentioned by the broadcaster Channel 12 and denied this morning by Tel Aviv sources. “Contrary to what has been reported, Israel will not accept the end of the war as part of a deal to release our hostages“, an official had declared. “As decided by the political leaders, the IDF will enter Rafah and destroy the remaining Hamas battalions, with or without a temporary truce to allow the release of our hostages“. It is not known at the moment whether anything has changed at the top of the Jewish state.
The Times of Israel had also reported that according to the Saudi newspaper Asharq the agreement was close and that the terrorists would communicate their response shortly. An anonymous source from the Palestinian organization had stated that the group is willing to accept the first phase of the agreement without the withdraw of Israeli troops from Gaza because they were convinced they still had “the papers for greater power regarding the identity of some of the kidnapped, IDF soldiers who are still alive”.
According to what emerged during the negotiations, the latest draft agreement mediated by Washington, Egypt and Qatar would include three phases: during the first, long 40 days, should be released 33 hostages and the IDF should withdraw from part of the exclave; the second, lasting 42 days, should focus on agreements for a return to calm in Gaza and the release of the last abductees during the October 7 attacks; in the third and final phase, also 42 days long, i.e. should be returned bodies of the hostages who died during the months of conflict. The agreement also appears to include the return of displaced civilians to their areas of residence and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.
On this last point, a Hamas source quoted by Channel 12 he spoke of “compromises reached” on the number of prisoners to be released for each Israeli hostage. Currently, a delegation of terrorists is in Cairo to discuss the final adjustments to the proposal. According to high-level Egyptian sources, the mediators reached “consensus formula on most points of disagreement”. If the peace agreement actually materializes, however, the consequences for the Jewish state could be serious.
L’extreme right religious, fundamental pillar of the executive of Benjamin Netanyahuhas in fact hinted at his intention to withdraw support for the government in the event of a compromise with the terrorists.
