Mon. Dec 23rd, 2024

The United States, Egypt and Qatar are pushing Israel and Hamas to join an interim diplomatic process (the 90-day plan) that begins with the release of hostages and eventually leads to the withdrawal of Israeli forces and the end of the war in Gaza.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the first phase of the “90-day plan” includes the cessation of hostilities for an unlimited number of days, at the beginning of which all civilians detained in Gaza are released in exchange for the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons, and simultaneously the Israeli army withdraws from the cities of the Gaza Strip, allows freedom of movement in the Strip, and stops the movement of drones for intelligence gathering.

In the second phase of the plan, Hamas would release the Israeli female soldiers and return the bodies of the kidnapped who were killed, in exchange for the release of all Palestinian female prisoners.

The third phase involves the release of the remaining Israeli soldiers detained in Gaza and all members of reserve units, in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners, and the Israeli army will withdraw the remaining part of its forces out of the Gaza Strip.

Israel and Hamas currently oppose the proposal, but influential countries consider the resumption of contacts a “positive sign” and will push hard for the proposal to be implemented.

According to Egyptian officials, there are divisions within the Israeli cabinet, with some calling for prioritizing hostages, and other senior Israeli leaders disagreeing with this, saying that only sustained military pressure on Hamas will force it to return prisoners.

According to the Israeli newspaper “Maariv”, Hamas’ demands for a deal under which the Israeli hostages would be released include several points, most notably: a complete cessation of the war, the withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip, international guarantees to maintain Hamas’ rule in the Strip, and not to prosecute Hamas leaders.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected what he described as Hamas’ surrender terms.

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