Qatar hopes for truce deal ‘very soon’ in Gaza Strip

Qatar said on Tuesday that a ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip could be reached “very soon”, with negotiations being “at the final stage” after 15 months of a war between Israel and Hamas that has caused tens of thousands of deaths.

One week before Donald Trump’s return to the White House on January 20, indirect negotiations intensified with a view to a truce associated with the release of hostages held in the Palestinian territory since the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, which started the war.

The ball is in Hamas’s court. If Hamas accepts it, the agreement is ready to be concluded and implementedsaid Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Qatar, the main mediating country with the United States and Egypt, said the ongoing negotiations in Doha were at the final stage and that the main problems blocking an agreement had been settled, without specifying which ones.

We hope this will lead to an agreement very soonadded a spokesperson for Qatari diplomacy.

Exchange of hostages and prisoners

According to two Palestinian sources close to the negotiations, 33 hostages should be released during the first phase of the ceasefire, in exchange for a thousand Palestinians detained by Israel.

The captives would be released in groups, starting with children and womenaccording to one of the sources.

Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer confirmed that Israel was seeking the release of 33 hostages during the first stage and was ready to release hundreds Palestinian prisoners.

Israel, meanwhile, is increasing airstrikes against the Palestinian Islamist movement in the Gaza Strip, where at least 18 people, including children, were killed overnight, according to emergency services.

These strikes targeted Deir Al-Balah, in the center of the territory, Gaza City, in the north, and the Khan Younes region, in the south.

In total, at least 61 people were killed in 24 hours, according to the Hamas government’s health ministry.

Last night was hard and bloody. The occupation carried out dozens of air and artillery strikes across the Gaza Strip.

Carrying the body of her months-old nephew in her arms, Alaa Gouda is indignant, in front of a hospital in Deir Al-Balah.

He did nothing and posed no danger to Israel. He slept peacefully next to his mother, eventually dying as a martyr with his mother and sister.he said.

The Israeli army indicated that multiple keystrokes aerial targets during the night Hamas terrorists.

Five Israeli soldiers, according to the army, were killed Monday in combat in the north of the territory, where most of the Israeli offensive against Hamas has been concentrated since the fall.

Only one truce

Since the start of the war, only one one-week truce has been observed at the end of November 2023 and negotiations since have been met with intransigence from both camps.

But international pressure has increased for a ceasefire associated with the release of the 94 hostages still held in Gaza, 34 of whom have died, according to the Israeli army. Especially after Donald Trump promised hell to the region if the hostages were not released before his return to power.

An agreement based on a three-phase American proposal formulated at the end of May 2024 is about to be concludedAmerican President Joe Biden said Monday evening.

His national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, had said that an agreement was within reach and possible from this week, in order to establish a ceasefire associated with the release of the hostages.

According to a source 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.

According to the Times of Israel, if the first phase is implemented, on the 16th day following the establishment of the agreement, negotiations will begin on a second phase with a view to the release of the last hostages, i.e. soldiers, men of age to be mobilized and the bodies of the dead hostages.

Hamas said it hoped Tuesday that the negotiations would lead to a clear and global agreement.

There has been real progress in the last two daysan Israeli government official said on Tuesday: This time we can hope for good news, we are close to the goal, but not there yet.

However, he added, Israel will not leave no Gaza until all the hostages are returned, the living and the dead. And there is no question of a definitive ceasefire, but a temporary one, he stressed.

According to media reports, Israel would be allowed to maintain a zone tampon in the Gaza Strip during the first phase of the ceasefire.

Israeli forces are expected to remain present until 800 meters deep in the territory, in an area going from Rafah in the south to Beit Hanoun in the northaccording to a source close to Hamas.

The army is not expected to withdraw from Gaza until all hostages are returned, but will allow residents to move between southern and northern Gazaaccording to the left-wing newspaper Haaretz.

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In total, 251 people were kidnapped during the attack of October 7, 2023, which led to the death of 1,210 people on the Israeli side, the majority civilians, according to a count by theAFP based on official Israeli data.

At least 46,645 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Israeli military campaign of retaliation in Gaza, according to data from the Hamas government’s Health Ministry, deemed reliable by theHIM.

According to Israeli commentators, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who recently strengthened his government coalition with the joining of a center-right party, has decided to ignore pressure from his far-right ministers.

The agreement is truly catastrophicsaid Tuesday one of them, the Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir. The day before, another far-right minister, Bezalel Smotrich, said he was opposed to a surrender agreement.