A few days after Israel rejected Hamas’s ceasefire proposal as ‘unrealistic’, new ceasefire negotiations begin today in Doha. The negotiations are taking place in the shadow of the rapidly deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Gaza and the threat of an Israeli invasion of Rafah.
According to The National News, citing sources, the negotiations are being mediated by CIA Director William Burns, his Egyptian counterpart Abbas Kamil and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman. The Israeli team will be led by Mossad chief David Barnea and Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar. Hamas will be represented by political leader Ismail Haniyeh and Yahya Sinwar’s deputy Khalil al-Hayah, according to the report.
On the other hand, the Haaretz newspaper claimed that the prisoner swap negotiations will be conducted directly with Yahya Sinwar, who is believed to be in Gaza, without intermediaries. The article said that the prisoner swap negotiations with Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza, are expected to last at least two weeks, and that it may take 24 to 36 hours to approve the changes made to the ceasefire and prisoner swap proposals.
It is rumoured that Hamas has made some concessions in its latest proposal for a new round of negotiations, but that it still contains conditions that Israel is unlikely to accept.
According to the National News, the main elements of Hamas’ new ceasefire proposal are as follows:
- A six-week ceasefire will be announced, with Israeli forces withdrawing from Gaza’s urban centres.
- Israeli forces should also avoid the two main roads (Salaheddin and al-Rashid) that cross Gaza’s coastline. Hamas says this would facilitate the delivery of humanitarian aid and allow hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the war in central and northern Gaza to return safely to their homes.
- The return of displaced persons – more than 80 per cent of Gaza’s 2.3 million population, most of whom have sought refuge in Rafah in southern Gaza near the Egyptian border – will also be completed within the same period.
- Additionally, Hamas is to release the female Israeli soldiers it is holding hostage, believed to be around five. Hamas wants Israel to release 50 Palestinian prisoners for every Israeli soldier, including 30 prisoners serving life or long-term sentences.
The third phase of the agreement is open-ended. It involves the exchange of active Israeli soldiers in Hamas custody for Palestinian prisoners, the number of whom will be determined later. In exchange for the Palestinian prisoners, Hamas will allow independent forensic experts to examine the bodies of some 30 hostages who died in Hamas custody in order to identify them before handing them over to Israel.
Hamas says implementation of the proposals is conditional on Israel fulfilling its part of the agreement.
Hamas also wants guarantees and a timetable from the mediators for the reconstruction of Gaza.
