From the Liveblog of
Saturday, May 4, 2024
Hamas said ready to okay first phase of hostage deal, but Israeli source says Jerusalem hasn’t seen updated agreement
Hamas will announce its approval of the latest proposal for a ceasefire and hostage release deal in the next few hours, according to the Palestinian Al-Quds newspaper.
The Saudi Asharq newspaper also reports that a deal is close and echoes that Hamas will announce its response in the coming hours.
An unnamed Hamas source quoted in the report says the terror group is willing to agree to the first phase without a withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza because it believes it still “holds the cards for greater power regarding the identity of some of the kidnapped [IDF] soldiers who are still alive.”
Both reports, as well as an earlier Channel 12 report, say that the US has guaranteed Israel will withdraw all troops from Gaza upon completion of the third phase of the agreement — a condition to which Israel has repeatedly refused.
However, the Kan broadcaster quotes an unnamed Israeli source close to the talks as saying that Israel has yet to review the agreements mentioned in Arab media reports regarding US guarantees to end the war.
The Palestinian report quotes anonymous sources in Hamas as saying that there have been frequent communications between the Egyptian and Qatari mediators and the Hamas and Israeli delegations to agree on the number of Palestinian security prisoners to be released in exchange for hostages held by terror groups in Gaza since October 7.
The latest proposal reportedly includes a first phase lasting up to 40 days in which up to 33 of 128 Israeli hostages held in Gaza since October 7 would be released and an IDF withdrawal from parts of Gaza, while the second phase would last for 42 days and see the release of all other living hostages and the sides completing arrangements for sustainable calm in Gaza. The third and final phase, which would see an exchange of bodies, would also last 42 days.
The sources quoted in the Al-Quds report say that Hamas hopes a deal agreeable to all parties will be reached by the end of the week.
