Viewed from Sderot, southern Israel, on Monday, January 6, 2025, smoke rises after an Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip. (Photo courtesy of Tsafrir Abayov)AP
CAIRO Two officials participating in the negotiations stated Tuesday that Hamas had agreed to a draft deal for the release of dozens of hostages and a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group are the closest they ever been to reaching an agreement, according to mediator Qatar.
An Egyptian official and a Hamas official verified the validity of the planned agreement, which the Associated Press was able to secure. Although the specifics are still being worked out, an Israeli official stated that progress has been made. For ultimate approval, the plan would have to be presented to the Israeli Cabinet.
All three officials discussed the behind-closed-door discussions while speaking on condition of anonymity.
Over the past year, the United States, Egypt, and Qatar have been working to broker an end to the 15-month conflict and secure the return of dozens of hostages taken during the Oct. 7, 2023, attack by Hamas that started it. The military estimates that at least one-third of the 100 detainees who are still in captivity within Gaza have died.
Any agreement is anticipated to bring Israel and Hamas one step closer to ending the bloodiest and most devastating war they have ever waged, which has caused global unrest and destabilized the larger Middle East.
It would provide aid to the severely affected Gaza Strip, where Israel’s offensive has left 90% of the 2.3 million people living there displaced and left significant swaths of the region in rubble, many of whom are in danger of starvation. After being held captive for months, dozens of Israeli hostages would be reunited with their loved ones.
Negotiations had previously come to a standstill despite officials’ previous expressions of hope. However, they are now indicating that they can reach a deal before Donald Trump, the U.S. president-elect, takes office on January 20. Trump’s Mideast envoy has joined the talks.
At a weekly briefing on Tuesday, Majed al-Ansari, the spokesman for the Qatari Foreign Ministry, stated that the current conversations were fruitful but refrained from providing specifics.
According to him, we are now closer than ever to reaching an agreement.
In the meantime, Hamas said in a statement that the current round of talks had come to an end.
Hamas-led militants killed almost 1,200 people in the Oct. 7 massacre, the majority of whom were civilians, and kidnapped another 250. During a brief ceasefire in November 2023, around half of those hostages were released.
Over 46,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s retaliatory onslaught, with over half of them being women and children, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which does not specify the proportion of combatants among the dead.
At least 18 Palestinians were killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza overnight and early Tuesday, including two pregnant women and four youngsters, according to local health officials. The baby also died.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment. Israel accuses militants of hiding among civilians and claims it only attacks them.
Under the three-phase agreement, which is based on a framework proposed by U.S. President Joe Biden and approved by the U.N. Security Council, 33 hostages—including women, children, elderly people, and injured civilians—would be gradually released over the course of six weeks in exchange for possibly hundreds of Palestinian women and children who Israel has imprisoned.
Fifty Palestinian detainees, including 30 convicted militants receiving life sentences, would be exchanged for the freedom of the 33, including five female Israeli troops.
According to the Israeli official, Israel believes the most of the 33 are still alive.
Israeli soldiers would leave population centers during this initial 42-day period, Palestinians would be permitted to begin returning to their homes in northern Gaza, and there would be a daily influx of humanitarian aid—roughly 600 trucks would arrive.
The first phase still has to be used to negotiate the second phase’s specifics. The agreement does not contain written assurances that the truce will last until an agreement is achieved, and those specifics are still up for debate. After the first phase concludes, Israel may then decide to continue its military operation.
According to the Israeli official, in-depth talks on the second phase will start during the first. He stated that Israel would not leave the Gaza Strip until all of the hostages returned home and that it would maintain certain assets during the talks, referring to a military presence.
According to the Egyptian official, the three mediators have verbally assured Hamas that the talks will go according to schedule and that they will work to get an agreement to begin the second and third phases of the negotiations before the conclusion of the first.
The agreement would permit Israel to maintain control of the Philadelphi corridor, the area along Gaza’s border with Egypt that Hamas had originally called for Israel to leave. In order to find a way to check Palestinians for weapons when they return to the northern part of the territory, Israel would withdraw from the Netzarim Corridor, a belt that runs through the center of Gaza.
According to the draft agreement, in the second phase, Hamas would free the remaining live hostages, primarily male troops, in return for additional prisoners and the total withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously pledged to continue fighting until Hamas’ military and political capabilities are eradicated, while Hamas has stated that it will not release the remaining hostages until the war is done and Israel withdraws completely.
If the negotiations fail to produce a new administration for Gaza, Hamas may end up controlling the region.
In a third phase, the bodies of the remaining hostages would be released in return for a reconstruction plan that would be implemented in Gaza under international supervision over a period of three to five years.
Pressure mounting before Trump’s inauguration
Ahead of Trump’s inauguration next week, Israel and Hamas are facing increased pressure to end the conflict. Steve Witkoff, his Middle East envoy, recently joined mediators from the United States, Egypt, and Qatar in Doha, the capital of the Gulf nation.