Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu On Thursday approved the departure of Israel's negotiating team to the talks on a cease-fire for a hostage release deal, an official said. The response from Hamas to the latest Israeli proposal, given on Wednesday, was seen in Jerusalem as the best response from the terror group, yet.
"Netanyahu repeated his position that the war will end only after all of its objectives were reached and not one moment sooner," he said.
There is a measure of optimism in Jerusalem that a deal could be reached within two or three weeks but officials warn that may not ultimately be the case.
According to various reports, the deal is comprised of three phases. In the first, which will last six weeks, all female hostages, the elderly and infirmed would be freed in a total of 33 hostages both dead and alive and Palestinian prisoners would be released from Israeli prisons. Meanwhile, negotiations will be underway for the next phase of the deal. Hamas demands that the second phase include a full withdrawal of IDF troops from the Strip. Israel had rejected that demand. The rest of the live hostages would be freed in the second phase while more Palestinian prisoners would be set free, among them convicted murderers in terror attacks.
The rest of the bodies of hostages, held by Hamas would be released to Israel in the third phase.
"The pending deal allows Israel to resume the fighting if there is no agreement during negotiations for the second phase," the official said adding that without that provision, the chances that the soldiers and the men among the hostages would be released, would be considerably smaller. Hamas had in the past, included female soldiers in the humanitarian release of women and children and there is a similar expectation now although, some warn that that may upend the talks.
This is not a perfect deal, the officials in Israel say but others involved in the deliberations say the main points of contention have been agreed and the negotiations now are over the details and not over principles.
The change in trajectory in the efforts to bring about a cease-fire is the result of American Egyptian and Qatari pressure and the understanding in Hamas that the rift between Israel and the Biden administration will not grow, the officials note. Hamas has also understood that their hope that the IDF offensive would be dialed down, has not materialized, they said.
There is no schedule for the talks to resume but officials said there may be a summit meeting with the participation of CIA director Bill Burns in the coming days.
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