Gaza ceasefire deal being finalized, Palestinian official tells BBC
The terms of a deal between Israel and Hamas for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages are being finalized, a Palestinian official familiar with the talks told the BBC.
It comes after White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said a ceasefire and hostage deal could be reached “this week”.
An Israeli official also told news agency Reuters that talks were at an “advanced stage”, and a deal was possible in “hours, days or more”.
US President Joe Biden Spoke to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sundayand with Qatar’s Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thani – who is brokering the talks – on Monday.
Sullivan said Biden also had to talk to Egyptian President Abdul Fatah al-Sisi.
The latest development comes as Netanyahu faces intense opposition to a potential deal within his ruling coalition. Ten right-wing members, including some members of Netanyahu’s own Likud party, have sent him a letter opposing the ceasefire.
A Palestinian official told the BBC that Hamas and Israeli officials were holding indirect talks in the same building on Monday.
Disclosing some possible details of the agreement, the official said that “detailed technical discussions took a lot of time”.
Both sides agreed that Hamas would release three hostages on the first day of the agreement, after which Israel would begin withdrawing troops from populated areas.
Seven days later, Hamas would release four additional hostages, and Israel would allow those displaced in the south to return to the north, but only on foot via the coastal road. Cars, animal-drawn carts and trucks will be allowed to cross the route adjacent to Salah al-Din Road, which will be monitored by an X-ray machine operated by a Qatari-Egyptian technical security team.
The agreement includes provisions for the continuation of Israeli forces philadelphia corridor And maintain a buffer zone of 800 meters on the eastern and northern borders during the first phase, which will last for 42 days.
Israel has also agreed to release 1,000 Palestinian prisoners, including about 190 prisoners serving sentences of 15 years or more. In return, Hamas will release 34 hostages.
Negotiations for the second and third phases of the agreement will begin on the 16th day of the ceasefire.
Meanwhile, Gaza’s civil defense agency said more than 50 people were killed in Israeli air strikes on Gaza City on Monday.
“They bombed schools, homes and even gatherings of people,” civil defense spokesman Mahmoud Bassal told AFP.
The Israeli military said it was looking into these reports. Separately, it said five soldiers were killed on Monday in the north of the Gaza Strip.
The war began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, which killed about 1,200 people and took 251 others hostage to Gaza.
In response Israel launched a military offensive into Gaza to destroy Hamas.
Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry says more than 46,500 people have been killed during the war.
Israel says there are 94 hostages left in Gaza, 34 of whom are presumed dead, along with four other Israelis who were abducted before the war, two of whom are dead.
