The first phase of a truce deal in the Gaza Strip currently being negotiated in Qatar would see the release of 33 Israeli hostages, according to sources close to the negotiations and Israeli media.
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Indirect negotiations led by the mediating countries, Qatar, the United States and Egypt, have intensified in recent days and “a final round” of discussions is due to begin on Tuesday, according to a source close to the talks.
Two sources close to the negotiations told AFP that this first phase provided for the release of 33 hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
The daily “Times of Israel”, citing Israeli officials, also affirms that “the first phase of the agreement would include 33 humanitarian cases”.
According to one of the two sources close to the negotiations, “the first phase of the agreement provides for the release of 33 Israeli hostages in groups, starting with children and women.”
“If the first phase is implemented, then on the 16th day following the establishment of the Israel agreement, negotiations will begin on a second phase with a view to the release of the last hostages, namely the soldiers, men of age “be mobilized and the bodies of the hostages dead,” added the newspaper.
-During the bloody attack carried out by Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023, which sparked the war in the Palestinian territory, 251 people were taken hostage. Among them, 94 hostages are still being held in Gaza, of whom 34 are dead, according to the Israeli army.
Last week, Hamas announced that it had agreed to release 34 hostages in the first phase of the agreement.
According to some media reports, Israel will be allowed to maintain a “buffer zone” in the Gaza Strip during the first phase.
The army “is not expected to withdraw from Gaza until all the hostages have been returned, but it will allow residents to move between the south and north of Gaza,” according to the left-wing newspaper “Haaretz.”
On Monday, US President Joe Biden said a ceasefire combined with a release of hostages was “close to being concluded”.
He specified that this agreement was based on a three-stage ceasefire plan that he himself presented at the end of May 2024.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strongly rejected any total withdrawal of the army and opposed Palestinian governance in the territory.
The discussions in Qatar are taking place in the presence of Israeli and Hamas delegations in two separate rooms, according to a source close to the negotiations.
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