CIA Director William Burns has presented a proposal for a six-week ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, including a prisoner exchange and the “conditional” return of displaced Palestinians to the northern territories.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director William Burns presented a new proposal that would temporarily halt Israeli attacks on Gaza and secure the release of Israeli prisoners.
An anonymous Palestinian source told AA that the new ceasefire proposal consists of three phases. The source said the first phase includes the release of 900 Palestinians, 100 of whom are serving long prison sentences, in exchange for Israeli civilian prisoners and the return of displaced civilians to northern Gaza.
The source specified that the displaced would return to camps set up by international agencies and not to their areas of residence.
If the displaced return to the north, Israeli forces will be stationed a few hundred metres from Salah al-Din Street in the east and Er-Rashid Street in the west.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the first phase of the agreement is a six-week ceasefire.
Israel has been reluctant to agree to this, fearing that Hamas fighters will mix with the civilian population and return to areas Israel says it has already evacuated. Israeli negotiators had previously offered to allow 60,000 Palestinians to return.
The Palestinian source told AA that the second phase of the offer would see an agreed number of Palestinian prisoners released in exchange for all Israeli prisoners, and the third phase would see the bodies of Israeli prisoners handed over.
The mediators expect both Hamas and Israel to respond to the latest offer by this evening.
Qatari foreign ministry spokesman Majid al-Ansari told the BBC that he was increasingly optimistic that a ceasefire agreement could be reached, but added: ‘We are by no means at the final stage of the talks.
Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt’s state information service, told Cairo-based Alghad TV that a ceasefire could begin as early as tomorrow morning, the first day of Eid al-Fitr, if an agreement is reached.
‘The ceasefire proposal does not meet Hamas’ demands’
Mahmoud Merdawi, a Hamas official, said that the proposal presented by the mediators clearly and unequivocally ignores the ceasefire and the need for Israel to withdraw from Gaza.
Merdawi continued: “We want an agreement that will not lead us to a new war. This agreement should include a comprehensive ceasefire, the complete withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, the unconditional return of the displaced to their homes and reconstruction work, and a prisoner exchange. We do not want an agreement that guarantees the release of Israeli prisoners but leaves our prisoners to negotiations and Israeli arbitrariness. This would mean the continuation of the occupation and the division of the northern and southern parts of the Gaza Strip under Israeli occupation.
Merdawi said the proposal does not include a ceasefire and withdrawal of troops, does not clarify the status of prisoners, and does not include the return of displaced persons, but the division into civilian and military, which means that most of the displaced will not be able to return home.
Hamas said in a statement that Hamas is committed to reaching an agreement that will end the aggression against the Palestinian people, but Israel continues to be stubborn and does not respond positively to any of the demands of the Palestinian people and the resistance.
Despite this, the statement said that the Hamas administration is studying the proposal presented to it with all national responsibility, and it was noted that the mediators will be informed of Hamas’ position on the proposal when the study is completed.
One of the biggest obstacles to an agreement has been whether Israel would accept Hamas’ demands that Gazans be allowed to return fully to the northern part of the settlement and that Israeli troops be withdrawn from the settlements. Israel fears that if these steps are taken together, Hamas could regain power in Gaza and survive the war.
Offer includes 500 trucks of aid
Israel is under international pressure to end the conflict, including from the Biden administration. The White House has been pressuring Israel to increase the amount of aid allowed into Gaza, especially after an Israeli raid killed seven employees of the US-based aid organisation World Central Kitchen. Cogat, the Israeli agency that coordinates humanitarian aid in Gaza, said 419 trucks of aid were inspected and transferred into the territory on Monday, the highest number of trucks entering in a single day since the start of the war. Before the war, Gaza received about 500 trucks a day.
The latest US proposal calls for 500 trucks of humanitarian aid to enter Gaza every day after the ceasefire begins.
