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Talks in Doha and Cairo to reach a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza are focused on new proposals put forward by the US to overcome differences between both parties, sources close to the negotiations have told The National.
The proposals touch on key areas – the duration of the ceasefire, the exchange of hostages held in Gaza for Palestinians in Israeli jails, the return of displaced Palestinians to northern Gaza and the fate of a strip on the Egypt-Gaza border that Israel captured in May – that have been at the root of the deadlock in negotiations, the sources explained.
The new US proposals push for a pause in the war during the first six weeks, followed by US-sponsored negotiations on a lasting ceasefire. This will require a major concession from Hamas, which has insisted that it would accept nothing less than a permanent ceasefire starting when a deal is reached and put in place. Israel, on the other hand, has been adamant that the war will only end when the Palestinian militant group is eradicated and the hostages are released.
Another element is for Hamas to release at least 20 living male hostages during the first phase in return for 50 Palestinian prisoners for each released hostage. The detainees Hamas would want to be freed include more than 160 released in 2011 under a hostage and prisoner swap, who were later rearrested. They would include at least half of the high-profile Palestinians serving long jail terms in Israeli prisons, according to the US proposals.
Israel should fully pull out from the Salah Al Din corridor, also known as the Philadelphi corridor, as well as the Palestinian side of the Rafah land crossing between Gaza and Egypt. In return, Hamas will be prohibited from the border strip, as well as the Rafah crossing, and excluded from participating in postwar governance or reconstruction efforts in the coastal enclave, according to the proposals. Israel said it would maintain control in the corridor.
Egypt was deeply angered by Israel's capture of the two areas. However, Israel insists that it must retain control of both to stop what it describes as the smuggling of arms and dual-use materials to Hamas through underground tunnels between Egypt and Gaza. Cairo dismisses the claim as baseless and insists that all tunnels were destroyed about a decade ago.
As for Palestinians who fled their homes in northern Gaza, they should be allowed to return without Israeli security checks, provided that guarantees are in place that no members of armed groups will pass through. The proposals also stipulate that Palestinian women, children under 19 years of age and men above the age of 50 will be given priority in the process.
Complete withdrawal
It is not immediately clear whether Israel or Hamas will agree to the new proposals, which the sources said were finalised in the last 72 hours. The US State Department didn’t immediately comment.
However, a source close to Hamas told The National that "any new formula that does not include a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip, including from Netzarim [in the central part of the enclave] and Philadelphi, cannot be accepted".
"We have not received any new proposals yet," said the source who accused Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of launching a wide assault on cities and camps in the occupied West Bank "to compensate for his inability to free the prisoners by force".
US mediators and officials had in the past been upbeat about the prospect of reaching a deal but were consistently proved wrong, with both Israel and Hamas sticking to their demands.
“This one is no different,” said one of the sources. “There is no guarantee that the new proposals will produce a deal. Absolutely none.”
The sources spoke after about two weeks of talks behind closed doors in Egypt and Qatar by technical, mid-level negotiators and mediators. Meanwhile, the White House said late on Sunday that US President Joe Biden would sit down on Monday with US mediators following the death of American citizen Hersh Goldberg-Polin and five other hostages in Gaza.
The war in Gaza started after a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel last October left about 1,200 dead, according to Israeli tallies. The attackers also abducted dozens of hostages. Israel responded with a fierce military campaign that, according to the enclave's Health Ministry, killed more than 40,700 and wounded 94,224. The vast majority of the territory's 2.3 million residents have been displaced, some several times, with large areas of built-up areas razed to the ground.
A week-long truce in late November allowed 100 hostages held by Hamas to walk free. Hamas and other militant groups are now believed to be holding less than 100 hostages, including about 40 who died while in captivity.
