2023-11-21 20:54:00
Deliverance has never been so close, but will it succeed? French Minister of the Armed Forces Sébastien Lecornu believes that there are “reasons to hope” for the release of hostages held by Hamas since October 7 and the attack on Israel. Qatar, Joe Biden, Benjamin Netanyahu… Different parts of the negotiations between Hamas and Israel also seem optimistic.
Hopes for an imminent release
In Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reported “progress” in the case of some 240 hostages taken, according to Israeli authorities, to the Gaza Strip. “We are making progress. I don’t think it’s useful to say too much (…) but I hope there will be good news soon,” he declared on a military base in the north of the country, without refer to a truce. His office then announced, “in view of the developments concerning the release of our hostages”, an evening meeting of the war government.
Qatar, Egypt and the United States are involved in the negotiations which are in the “final phase”, Qatar Foreign Ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari said on Tuesday. “We have never been closer to an agreement,” he said. Hamas leader Ismaïl Haniyeh, based in Doha, for his part announced that his movement had “delivered its response to the brothers of Qatar and the mediators. We are getting closer to concluding a truce agreement.” “We are now very close” to an agreement, also declared US President Joe Biden, stressing however that “nothing is done until it is done”.
Conditions of an agreement
Two sources close to the matter told AFP on Tuesday that an agreement would involve the release of “50 to 100” civilian hostages in exchange for the release of 300 women and children detained by Israel. The transfer would take place in stages at the rate of “ten” Israeli hostages against “thirty” Palestinian prisoners per day.
But according to the same sources, Israel insisted on “family reunification” – meaning that if a civilian was released, his partner would also be released, even if he was a soldier – which Hamas, opposed to the release of soldiers , refuses for the moment. “Qatar and Egypt are currently working with the US administration to resolve this issue,” they said. And “as soon as this point is settled, the date of a five-day humanitarian truce, possibly renewable, will be announced”. Another difficulty: The hostages are in the hands of Hamas but also of Islamic Jihad, another Palestinian armed group, which is not part of the negotiations.
A humanitarian truce in the balance
The five-day truce provides for “a complete ceasefire and a cessation of flights by Israeli planes over the Gaza Strip, except over the north of the territory where planes will be able to fly for 18 hours a day,” again according to sources close to the matter.
This northern part represents a third of the Gaza Strip, and some 800,000 people are still there according to the UN. The agreement would also include the entry into the Gaza Strip, including in the North, of 100 to 300 trucks of food and medical aid as well as fuel, these sources added.
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