Report: Hamas okays 1st phase of hostage deal, after US guarantees IDF withdrawal from Gaza once all phases completed

A Hamas source claims that the terror group has approved the first phase of a hostage release deal, having received a guarantee from the United States that Israel will completely withdraw from Gaza after 124 days, when all three phases of the agreement have been completed.
Channel 12 quotes an unnamed Hamas official as saying that the US guarantee was communicated via Egyptian and Qatari mediators who were set to meet with representatives from the terror group in Cairo today.
Israel has insisted repeatedly that it will not accept an end to the war in Gaza as part of a potential hostage deal.
The agreement also reportedly comes with a promise backed by the US that Israel will not begin its planned military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, where over one million Palestinians are sheltering during the ongoing fighting.
The latest proposal reportedly includes a first phase lasting up to 40 days in which at least 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 first phase is also believed to allow for the return of Palestinians to northern Gaza, with the US saying that Israel has agreed to the unrestricted return of Gaza civilians to areas cleared by the Israel Defense Forces.
It also includes the release of hundreds of Palestinian security prisoners in exchange for the hostages kidnapped on October 7, when thousands of Hamas-led terrorists burst across the border into Israel, killing some 1,200 people and kidnapping 253 others, mostly civilians, many amid acts of brutality and sexual assault, sparking the ongoing war.
The Hamas source quoted by Channel 12 says “compromises were reached” regarding the number of Palestinian security prisoners to be released in exchange for each Israeli hostage.
The issue of allowing “dual-use” items into the Strip — meaning humanitarian supplies that could also be used for terror purposes — is still being ironed out, the Hamas source adds.
The report follows an official statement from Hamas late last night that the terror group was sending a delegation to Cairo “determined to secure an agreement in a way that fulfills Palestinians’ demands.”