NEW YORK, April 10. /TASS/. The Palestinian radical Hamas movement has told international mediators that it does not have 40 hostages in the Gaza Strip to release as part of the proposed truce agreement with Israel, CNN reported citing sources.
According to them, Hamas told Qatar and Egypt that "it does not have 40 living hostages who match those criteria for release."
CNN noted that the deal includes a six-week pause in hostilities, the release of 40 remaining hostages, including all women, as well as ill and elderly men. In exchange, hundreds of Palestinians will be released from Israeli prisons.
CNN also points out that Hamas’ inability or reluctance to tell Israel which hostages will be released alive is a serious obstacle to any potential ceasefire agreement. According to an Israeli official, since Hamas is unable to release 40 Israelis including elderly and women, the Jewish state insists that the movement release young military members.
New deal
Earlier, the Qatar-based Al Jazeera channel, citing sources, said that the talks’ participants gave the parties to the conflict a new proposal on a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, which should be implemented in three steps. The first step involves Hamas releasing 40 Israeli hostages held in the Gaza Strip in exchange for the release of 900 Palestinian prisoners, including 100 sentenced to life in prison. According to the channel’s sources, other points of the potential agreement on a ceasefire include bringing back displaced persons to the northern part of the enclave, and the daily passage of 500 lorries carrying humanitarian aid.
Besides, the mediators proposed to create a safe zone around the major roads of the Gaza Strip - the Salah al-Din and Al Rashid roads, which connect the north and the south of the enclave. The new proposal points out that Israeli forces should keep a distance of 500 meters from the roads, by which the displaced persons will be able to come back to the northern Gaza Strip.
Another round of ceasefire talks in Gaza began on April 7. Early Monday morning, Al-Qahera Al-Ekhbariya TV reported that the sides had made significant progress in the talks, reaching consensus on a number of contentious issues.