Agreement never so close: Hamas awaits final word from the US

Agreement on a ceasefire in Gaza and hostages is closer than ever. The communication made on Tuesday morning by Qatar – which together with the USA and Egypt is one of the three mediating countries that have been working for months towards an agreement – ​​reflects the acceleration that the talks had in the last hours in Doha. So much so that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, according to CNN, called an urgent meeting with senior security officials about the potential agreement. Ultimately, the optimism continued: “We are very close” to a deal, the White House announced through National Security Council spokesman John Kirby. The hope is to be able to reach an agreement before the end of Joe Biden’s term and Donald Trump’s inauguration, scheduled for January 20th.

“Hamas has given its approval to the draft agreement”, was filtered from sources in the morning, when the Palestinian group reported negotiations in the “final phase” expressing “satisfaction”. Then there was a slight slowdown in the afternoon: “We await the final word from Hamas,” said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, speaking in any case of a matter of “hours or days”. The same moment was provided at night by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, in a meeting with family members of the hostages. “It’s a matter of days or hours. We are waiting for Hamas’ response and then we can start immediately,” declared the prime minister according to Channel 12, saying in turn that he was ready for a prolonged ceasefire, but on condition of that all hostages be released. Representatives of the hostages’ families who were present at the meeting stressed, however, that “the agreements only concern the first phase” of the agreement and said they were “very concerned about the second and third phases”.

If the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas comes into effect as envisioned in the current draft agreement, which the Associated Press has seen, there will be 3 phases. The first, 42 days, will begin with the gradual release of 33 hostages over 6 weeks, including women, children, elderly people and injured civilians, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian women and children detained by Israel. Among the 33 hostages there would be 5 Israeli soldiers, each of whom would be released in exchange for 50 Palestinian prisoners, so in total for the 5 soldiers 250 Palestinian prisoners would be released. Furthermore, still in the first phase, according to the current project, Israeli forces will withdraw from population centers, Palestinians will be able to begin returning to their homes in northern Gaza and there will be a wave of humanitarian aid, with the around 600 trucks enter the Strip every day. During the first phase, Israel was to maintain control of the Philadelphia Corridor, that is, the strip of territory along Gaza’s border with Egypt, from which Hamas had initially requested Israel’s withdrawal. However, Israel will withdraw from the Netzarim Corridor, a strip that runs through the central part of Gaza, where Tel Aviv tried to create a mechanism to control Palestinians when they return to the north of the Strip to prevent them from having weapons.

However, there is less clarity about subsequent phases, because the details of the second phase will then have to be negotiated during the first and the agreement does not include written guarantees that the ceasefire will continue until an agreement is reached. According to Channel 12, Netanyahu said that “the second phase negotiations will begin on the 16th day of the first phase” and that “we will not leave Gaza until all hostages are returned.” This would therefore leave open the possibility of Israel resuming its military campaign after the end of the first phase. In the second phase, in any case, according to the draft agreement, Hamas would release the hostages still alive, especially male soldiers, in exchange for other prisoners and the “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza. Finally, the third phase of the agreement stipulates that the bodies of the remaining hostages would be returned in exchange for a 3-5 year reconstruction plan to be carried out in Gaza under international supervision.

“We support the unity of Gaza and the West Bank with a government led by the ANP,” said Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani about the post-war situation, recounting in X a conversation he had with the Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Palestinian, Mohammad Mustafa. “I reiterated Italy’s support for a ceasefire agreement in the Strip,” said the head of Farnesina.

Source: IL Tempo

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