Israel and Hamas are weighing a proposed six-week pause in fighting that could see all civilian hostages in Gaza freed after 117 days in captivity, but a permanent end to the war remains elusive.
The deal – put together by US, Egyptian and Qatari negotiators – proposes a three-stage plan that would see Israel halt its military advancement in Gaza for six weeks in order for Hamas to gather its hostages, sources familiar with the deal told the Washington Post.
The terror group would then release all civilian hostages, prioritizing children, women, the elderly, and those who need medical attention.
The first phase would also see Hamas release the bodies of the 27 hostages believed to have died in captivity. Excluding the dead, Israel believes Hamas has 109 hostages in Gaza.
The second phase of the deal would then include the freedom of female Israeli soldiers who were also kidnapped on Oct. 7. Unlike previous proposals that were rejected, the current deal does not include a phase where all IDF troops will be freed.
Similar to the cease-fire deal in November that saw more than 100 hostages freed, the new deal calls for Israel to release three Palestinian prisoners for every one hostage, the sources added.
With the hostages freed and six-week pause, both sides would also allow more humanitarian aid to reach the refugees in Gaza and have hospitals, water services and bakeries operational again across the strip.
The details of the deal were hammered out during a conference in Paris over the weekend that included CIA Director William Burns, who was tapped by President Biden to help move the negotiations along and quell tensions between Qatar and Israel.
“We’re hoping in the near future to be able to get this over the finish line; we’re closer than we’ve ever been,” said John Kirby, the White House National Security Council spokesman, following Burns’ trip.
Despite its ambitious goal for an elusive pause in the war, the proposal was described as a bare-bones “framework” said to be only two- or three-pages long, the sources told the WaPo.
While few details are cemented for now, negotiators believe it’s a step in the right direction that could see a proper proposal laid out and presented to Israel and Hamas by next week.
But it remains unclear if either will even consider the draft version as both sides have publicly called several of the conditions laid out in the document as non-starters.
Hamas has been vocal about what it wants to see in a deal, including a complete end to the war and the freedom of all Palestinians being held in Israeli jails.
Hamas’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, confirmed the group had received the draft on Tuesday, noting that the final deal should include the “complete withdrawal of the occupation forces from the Gaza Strip,” Al Jazeera reports.
Hamas’ vision, however, stands in stark contrast with Israel’s, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly rejecting such conditions.
“We will not remove the IDF from the Gaza Strip and we will not release thousands of terrorists,” Netanyahu asserted during an appearance in the West Bank on Tuesday.
“None of this will happen. What will happen? Absolute victory,” he reiterated.