NEW YORK, January 21. /TASS/. The United States along with Egypt and Qatar are pushing Israel and the Hamas movement toward a new hostage release deal, The Wall Street Journal said, citing diplomats participating in the negotiations.
According to the newspaper, the new deal envisages the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip that is to be followed by a complete ceasefire in the enclave. However, neither of the sides has agreed to such a deal but their willingness to discuss it is seen as certain progress, the newspaper noted, adding that talks on such an agreement were expected to be organized in Cairo in several days.
Thus, under the deal, Hamas is supposed to release all civilian hostages in exchange for the release of several hundred Palestinians from Israeli prisons. Apart from that, Israel is to withdraw its forces from Gaza’s cities, ensure free movement across the enclave and allow to double humanitarian assistance. The second part of the deal provides for the release of Israeli female soldiers held be Hamas in exchange for the release of more Palestinian prisoners. Under the third part of deal, Hamas is to release Israeli soldiers who are held hostage while the Israel is to withdraw part of its forces from the enclave.
Tensions flared up again in the Middle East on October 7 after militants from the Gaza Strip-based radical Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise incursion on Israeli territory, killing many Israeli kibbutz residents living near the Gaza border and abducting more than 200 Israelis, including women, children and the elderly. Hamas described its attack as a response to Israeli authorities’ aggressive actions against the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem’s Old City. Israel declared a total blockade of the Gaza Strip and launched bombardments of the enclave and some areas in Lebanon and Syria, as well as a ground operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Clashes are also reported in the West Bank.
In late November 2023, Hamas announced an agreement with Israel, which was brokered by Egypt and Qatar, on a four-day humanitarian truce in the Gaza Strip, which took effect on November 24. The deal stipulated the release of Israeli women and children being held hostage in Gaza in exchange for the release of Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons.The sides extended the ceasefire several times but on the morning of December 1 the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said that Hamas had violated the truce in Gaza and opened fire on Israeli territory, thus prompting the IDF to resume combat operations in the Gaza Strip.