2024-05-01 18:53:55
Cairo/Tel Aviv: Details have emerged about a deal proposal put forward by Palestinian militant group Hamas during ongoing talks in Cairo on a ceasefire in the Gaza war. The proposal, which Israel was involved in drafting, has not yet been approved, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing Egyptian officials. The proposal envisages two phases. The first phase would involve the release of at least 20 hostages within three weeks in exchange for Palestinian prisoners.
The Times of Israel newspaper quoted an Israeli official as saying on Tuesday, ‘Israel has gone ahead in showing flexibility to reach an agreement. For example, the number of hostages to be released by Hamas in the first phase has been reduced. Israel is also open to the possibility of Palestinians who fled the fighting in the south of the Gaza Strip returning to the north without Israeli security checks. According to the Israeli newspaper, one of the options currently being considered is for Egypt to take over the security investigation.
The Israeli government is expecting a response from Hamas on the latest proposal on Wednesday evening. Israel is prepared to send a delegation to Cairo for indirect talks in the coming days, the Wall Street Journal quoted Israeli and Egyptian officials as saying. Israel is seeing the latest proposal as the last chance. Israeli media recently quoted senior officials as saying that if a deal is not reached with Hamas soon, a ground offensive will begin in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. An official told the Wall Street Journal that preparations for the attack were continuing in Rafah.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to launch a ground attack on Rafah, with or without a deal with Hamas. PM Benjamin Netanyahu said in a meeting with the families of hostages on Tuesday that Israel has begun evacuating Palestinian civilians from Rafah, Xinhua news agency reported. “We will enter Rafah and destroy the Hamas battalions there, with or without an agreement, to achieve complete victory,” he said. Israel considers Rafah to be Hamas’s last major stronghold in the Palestinian territories. Rafah is the southernmost city of Gaza, where about 1.2 million Palestinians are seeking refuge.