Israeli officials confirmed the local media reports that Egypt has laid out a new proposal for a truce which includes the release of all Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip.
Reports in the Israeli media indicate that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s administration has not rejected the proposal and that further negotiations may follow.
But PM Netanyahu said that Israel will keep fighting in Gaza until a complete victory over Hamas is achieved.
“This is the only way to destroy Hamas, bring our hostages back, and ensure that Gaza no longer poses a threat to Israel,” Netanyahu said.
According to the Saudi news website Asharq cited by The Times of Israel, the Egyptian initiative is a plan to end hostilities and release all the remaining hostages, in three stages.
Egypt’s proposal for peace in Gaza: Reading into three stages
According to a report in The Times of Israel, the first stage would be a two-week halt in fighting, extendable to three or four, in exchange for the release of 40 hostages – women, minors and elderly men, especially sick ones.
In return, Israel would release 120 Palestinian prisoners of the ‘same categories’, the report added. During this time, hostilities would stop, Israeli tanks would withdraw, and humanitarian aid would enter Gaza, it said further.
The second phase is an Egypt-sponsored “Palestinian national talk” to end the division between Palestinian factions – mainly the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas terror group – towards the formation of a technocratic government in the West Bank and Gaza that would oversee the reconstruction of Gaza and pave the way for Palestinian parliamentary and presidential elections.
The third stage would include a comprehensive ceasefire, the release of the remaining Israeli hostages, including soldiers, in return for a to-be-determined number of Palestinian security prisoners in Israeli jails affiliated with Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad groups.
In this phase, Israel would withdraw its forces from cities in the Gaza Strip and would allow displaced Gazans from the blockaded Palestinian enclave’s north to return to their homes.
Egypt-led efforts to bring peace in Gaza: What is happening now?
Hamas politburo leader Ismail Haniyeh returned to Qatar on Saturday (Dec 23) after a four-day visit to Cairo to discuss the Egyptian proposal with Hamas political bureau. On Sunday, a delegation of the Islamic Jihad arrived in Cairo today for talks with Egyptian officials.
The Israel-Hamas war entered Day 79 on the Christmas eve of 2023. The war which began on October 7 when the Palestinian armed groups attacked southern Israel and killed about 1,200 Israelis, has resulted in an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip after Israel’s retaliatory attack killed over 20,000 Palestinians so far.
Disclaimer: WION takes utmost care to accurately and responsibly report ongoing developments on the Israel-Palestine conflict after the Hamas attacks. However, we cannot independently verify the authenticity of all statements, photos and videos.