Hamas agrees to US-backed ceasefire, plan to release hostages

Israel lost its biggest demand next Saturday after Hamas approved a resolution calling for a cease-fire pledge and the release of US-backed hostages: that the Jewish community completely end the nine-month conflict in Gaza, Hamas And an Egyptian official said.

However the pledge came with a major hurdle: The Iran-backed militant group is now making “written promises” that mediators will continue to negotiate a permanent ceasefire as soon as the first section of the plan goes into effect, the Hamas representative outlined.

Hamas gave its initial leniency to the proposal after receiving “verbal commitments and guarantees” from Egyptian and Qatari mediators that fighting would not resume after Israel received the hostages and that both sides would negotiate toward a permanent ceasefire. Will continue, Hamas is mentioned as legitimate.

“Now we want these guarantees on paper,” the Hamas official said.

Israel’s Mossad intelligence director David Barnia was flown to Doha on Friday, where he met with Qatari mediators and rejected demands for stability written on the second phase of the ceasefire proposal, Axios reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked to send his country’s negotiators back to Doha an hour later for follow-up talks, but his administration insisted on maintaining “a gap between the sides.” Axios reported that CIA Director William Burns may fly back to Doha to fine-tune the talks.

The proposal now on the table would allow Israel to free a large number of Palestinian prisoners including women, children and wounded hostages in remote Hamas sites over an initial period of six weeks. Israeli forces will also withdraw from densely populated areas in Gaza and allow people to return to their homes in northern parts of the territory during this month.

In section two, Hamas would free any remaining people it had – both civilians and squads – in exchange for Israel’s release of various Palestinian prisoners and detainees. This exchange will not take place until a “permanent peace” goes into effect and all Israeli troops withdraw from Gaza.

Volume 3 will see the return of the remains of hostages who died in captivity to Israel.

The plan received support from families of many of the hostages in weekly marches in cities across Israel on Saturday.

Einav Jangouker, whose son Matan has been taken hostage, told The Times of Israel that for the first time in many months she is hopeful that she will be able to hug her son again.

He stressed that the opportunity of the resolution could not be ignored and had a message for Top Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “We saw how you repeatedly torpedoed deals at the moment of truth. Don’t you dare break our hearts again,” she said.

“Progressing the deal is a moral step, the most urgent and important at this time, and we must do everything in our power to prevent this important opportunity from being thwarted,” said Hofshi B’Artzenu, head of the pro-democracy protest task force. Perhaps most in line with Israel’s opportunities, the organizers of the weekly march.

Israeli officials told Axios that they were concerned that if they definitively demanded Hamas’s written determination, the terrorist group would be able to indefinitely drag out discussions about the second section of the proposal.

Officials said it could be difficult for Israel to resume upcoming fighting without being recognized as a violation of the oath, and could cause the UN Security Council to impose a ceasefire without ensuring the release of all hostages. , officials said.

However, in recent days, Israeli sources have expressed optimism about a possible ceasefire pledge in the bloody conflict that followed Hamas’s brutal attack on Israel on October 7, which left 1,200 dead and another 250 abducted. Was.

Mossad officials told mediators in Doha that they had been assured that the Israeli cabinet would accept the ceasefire proposal on the table, a legitimate source of talks told The Wall Street Journal.

A source on Israel’s negotiating team said there was a legitimate expectation of a pledge with Hamas, compared to previous discussions where Hamas had included demands that Israel said were impossible to accept.

With wiring.