It is, a priori, only a matter of hours. Hamas approved the agreement on a truce in Gaza on Wednesday, sources close to the accelerating talks in Qatar said, aimed at ending 15 months of a deadly war with Israel.
The Palestinian Islamist movement and its ally Islamic Jihad approved the agreement on a ceasefire as well as an exchange of prisoners for Israeli hostages, according to two sources close to the negotiators meeting in Doha. “The resistance groups reached an agreement among themselves” and “informed the mediators,” said one of the sources contacted by AFP by telephone from Cairo on Wednesday. Information confirmed to Le Parisien by a Qatari source.
A press conference expected in Qatar
It is in this context that Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani is due to give a press conference on Wednesday evening from Doha, according to Reuters information. The news agency specifies that the exact time of this declaration is not yet known.
The agreement must now be definitively signed, in particular by senior officials of the Jewish state. According to information from Israeli channel N12, members of the government will meet on Thursday “for crucial meetings”. The ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip should be ratified by Thursday noon, several local media agree. The first releases of hostages could begin next Sunday or Monday.
Hostages released slowly
According to two sources close to Hamas, 33 hostages should be released during a first phase, in exchange for a thousand Palestinians detained by Israel. The hostages would be released “in groups, starting with children and women.” The Israeli government confirmed on Tuesday that it was seeking the release of “33 hostages” during the first stage and was prepared to release “hundreds” of Palestinian prisoners.
This first stage should last 42 days. The 33 Israeli hostages should be released slowly, according to N12. 19 of them would leave the Gaza Strip during the first 35 days, in groups of three or four, and the remaining 14 detainees will reunite with their loved ones during the last week of this first stage. As during the first truce signed at the end of November 2023, the women and children hostages should be the first to be released.
Last minute request from Hamas
Throughout this phase, Israeli troops are expected to withdraw “in stages” from the Gaza Strip and will remain in some border areas to defend Israeli villages. They would also leave the Netzarim corridor, located in the center of the Palestinian enclave, and parts of the Philadelphia corridor, this narrow strip of land 14 km long and 100 m wide on the southern border of Gaza with Egypt which Israel took control of.
This sensitive point is still at the heart of the negotiations on Wednesday afternoon. A senior official told Haaretz that Hamas made additional requests to Israel on this subject, which the Jewish state would have formally rejected.
Negotiations will continue throughout this first phase. If they succeed, a second stage of hostage release would take place 43 days after the signing of the initial agreement. The last detainees, mainly IDF soldiers, could then
