Significant progress in negotiations between Hamas and Israel on the proposed ceasefire and hostage release in Gaza: This was announced by the Egyptian broadcaster Al-Qahera News, linked to the country’s secret services, citing an anonymous source.
According to rumors, Hamas approved the first phase of an agreement for the release of the hostages, in exchange for American guarantees on a complete withdrawal of Israel from Gaza within 124 days, upon completion of the three phases that would make up the agreement.
The deal would also include a U.S.-backed promise that Israel will not launch its planned operation in the southern Palestinian enclave city of Rafah.
The proposal it would include a first phase of 40 days during which 33 hostages held in Gaza would be released and the IDF would withdraw from the Strip. The second phase would extend up to 42 days during which all remaining hostages would be released and the parties would agree on the conditions for a return to calm in Gaza. The third and final phase, dedicated to the delivery of lifeless bodies, would also last 42 days.
The agreement also includes the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. The Hamas source cited by Channel 12 spoke of “compromises reached” on the number of detainees to be released in exchange for the release of each hostage.
Meanwhile, Israel’s ultimatum is triggered to Hamas for an agreement on the ceasefire in the Strip. Tel Aviv has given it a week, otherwise it will launch the military operation in Rafah, where around 1.4 million Palestinians are refugees.
“An Israeli attack on Rafah would cause damage beyond acceptable,” the US Secretary of State warned. According to Blinken, Israel has not presented any plans to protect civilians during this possible attack. “In the absence of such a plan, we cannot support a large-scale military operation in Rafah, because the damage it would cause would be beyond what is acceptable,” he said at the McCain Institute Forum in Sedona, Arizona.
More than a million Palestinians are crowded into the city in the southern Gaza Strip displaced by the war but, according to Blinken, Israel has not presented any plans to protect civilians during this possible attack. “In the absence of such a plan, we cannot support a large-scale military operation in Rafah, because the damage it would cause would be beyond what is acceptable.”
