Israel and Hamas have accepted an agreement for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages, a source close to the discussions told AFP on Wednesday, after days of intense diplomatic efforts in Doha, ending several months of blocking.
“We have a hostage agreement” in Gaza, confirmed US President-elect Donald Trump on his Truth Social platform. “They will be released soon,” he added, while the current tenant of the White House, Joe Biden, has not yet communicated on the subject.
Donald Trump’s future special envoy for the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, was involved alongside representatives of the Biden administration in discussions led by Qatar and Egypt for a truce in the Gaza Strip.
Trump?
“An agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages was reached following the meeting of the Qatari Prime Minister (Mohammed bin Abdelrahmane Al-Thani) with Hamas negotiators and, separately, with negotiators Israelis, in his office,” said the source close to the negotiations, on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the discussions.
Indirect negotiations which had stalled for months had accelerated in recent days with a view to a truce associated with the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip since the bloody Hamas attack against Israel on October 7, 2023.
The agreement fiercely negotiated by international mediators, Qatar, United States and Egypt, and concluded a few days before Donald Trump’s return to the White House, provides for an exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
-33 hostages released
In a first phase, 33 hostages should be released in exchange for a thousand Palestinians detained by Israel, according to two sources close to the negotiations. The hostages would be released “in groups, starting with children and women.”
The second phase will concern the release of the last hostages, “soldiers and men of age to be mobilized”, as well as the return of the bodies of the dead hostages, according to the Times of Israel.
An Israeli official, however, warned Tuesday that Israel would “not leave Gaza until all the hostages have returned, the living and the dead.”
Only one week-long truce was observed at the end of November 2023 and the negotiations carried out since then have been met with intransigence from both camps.
