SAEDNEWS: A source has told media that Hamas delegation has agreed with a new truce proposal offered by mediators yesterday.
A source told BBC that Hamas has agreed with the prisoner exchange proposal, BBC claimed in a report on Monday afternoon.
According to the BBC citing a Palestinian official familiar with the talks, the proposal from Egypt and Qatar is a comprehensive two-stage plan based on a framework advanced by US envoy Steve Witkoff.
It would see Hamas free around half of the 50 remaining Israeli captives - 20 of whom are believed to be alive - in two stages during a 60-day temporary truce. During that time, there would be negotiations on a permanent ceasefire and an Israeli troop withdrawal.
There was no immediate comment from Israeli officials, the media reported after the news was published.
Prior to that, a Hamas source told the Qatari channel Al Jazeera that Hamas informed mediators it accepted the ceasefire-captive release deal proposal submitted to it yesterday.
According to an earlier report on by regional Arab media, this proposal was a revised version of Hamas’s latest response in the negotiation round, which dealt with a framework agreement for a 60-day ceasefire.
The proposal details:
According to Haaretz, Al-Hadath reported that Egypt has asked Hamas and other Palestinian factions to remain in Cairo until a comprehensive agreement is reached. A senior Palestinian source told Lebanese channel Al Mayadeen that Hamas and the Palestinian resistance factions have accepted a cease-fire proposal mediated by Egypt and Qatar. The plan calls for a temporary suspension of military operations for 60 days and includes an Israeli military's withdrawal of 1,000 meters from northern and eastern Gaza, excluding Shujaiya and Beit Lahia.
The agreement also includes a prisoner exchange: 10 living Israeli captives would be returned in exchange for 140 Palestinians serving life sentences and 60 more serving over 15 years. Adjustments to Israeli military deployment in northern and eastern Gaza are also part of the plan. Once the deal takes effect, large-scale humanitarian aid – including fuel, water, electricity, hospital and bakery rehabilitation, and debris removal equipment – will be delivered immediately, coordinated by the UN, the Red Crescent, and other international organizations.
Under the proposal, the Rafah crossing will reopen in both directions, and an agreement on the exchange of remains stipulates that for each deceased Israeli, 10 Palestinian bodies will be released. The source emphasized that the deal is carefully coordinated and follows arrangements outlined in the January 19 accord, representing a significant step toward alleviating the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told Al-Hadath that the conditions for ending the war are impossible, and therefore, efforts are underway to reach an interim agreement.
Other sources who spoke to the Saudi channel as well as to Qatar's Al-Araby channel said that the new proposal includes large-scale coordinated humanitarian aid to Gaza (fuel, water, electricity, hospital and bakery rehabilitation, and debris removal), reopening of the Rafah crossing in both directions, and a provision to exchange 10 Palestinian bodies for every Israeli body returned.
The Haaretz report added, on Saturday, Netanyahu's office announced that Israel will agree to a deal with Hamas only on the following conditions: the release of all the hostages in one phase, the demilitarization of the Gaza Strip, Israeli security control of the Strip, and the bringing of a government entity to the Strip that is not Hamas or the Palestinian Authority.
A senior official close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who is familiar with the details of the talks, believes that Hamas would refuse a comprehensive deal on the conditions that Israel sets. According to him, the cabinet's insistence on these conditions could endanger the lives of the hostages and harm the chances of their return.
