After months of indiscretions, broken agreements and never confirmed rumors, the turning point seems to be truly concrete Middle East. The agreement between Israel and Hamas appears one step away for both the cease-fireboth for the release of the hostages in the hands of Palestinian terrorists after fifteen months of imprisonment and darkness in Gaza. The confirmation of the nearby white smoke came directly from American President Joe Biden: “The agreement is on the verge of being closed, we are on the verge of finally seeing a proposal that I presented in detail several months ago come to fruition”.
In the last few hours there have been “significant progress on remaining critical points” in the latest negotiations in Qatar, underlined by sources familiar with the negotiations. An acceleration that came after a crucial night in Doha, where the turning point in the talks seems to have been reached with the meeting between the envoy of President-elect Donald Trump, Steve Witkoff, the Prime Minister of Qatar al Thani and the director of the Mossad David Barnea. Going into detail, al-Thani met with representatives of Hamas, while Witkoff met with those of Israel. The indication was clear: in the event of black smoke, both Hamas and Israel would pay the bill.
Channel 12 reported that the draft agreement was received by Israel overnight and was found to be largely acceptable. The document also received the green light from leaders of the Palestinian terrorist organization abroad. Now everything would be in the hands of the de facto head of Hamas, i.e Muhammed Sinwarbrother of the leader Yahya killed by the IDF and legitimate heir of terror in Gaza. A high-level source in Tel Aviv clarified on this point: “The decision that will transform the negotiations into a definitive agreement is in his hands.”
The White House yesterday announced that Joe Biden had a telephone conversation with the Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and that both underlined “the urgent need for an agreement”. After receiving US envoys in Doha, Al Thani received the Hamas delegation led by chief negotiator Khalil in Haya. Hours later, Turkey’s intelligence chief Ibrahim Kalin spoke by phone with officials from Hamas’ political bureau to discuss the “progress and current status of the negotiations.” A pressing on two fronts which would have hit the mark, even if the definitive signature is still missing.
Entering the details of the agreementthe talks put the spotlight on a three-phase plan. The “humanitarian cases” will be released by Hamas first, i.e. 33 abductees including women, children, men over 50 and the sick (including seriously wounded soldiers). Let us remember that there are still 98 hostages in the Gaza tunnels. In exchange, Israel will release 1,300 Palestinian terrorists held in Israeli prisons. A ceasefire of 42 days in total is also expected. Discussions on the second part of the agreement are expected to start on the sixteenth day. However, the presence of Israel in Gaza during and after the possible truce should be evaluated, with the new buffer zone of approximately one and a half kilometers along the border of the Strip, while previously it was 300 meters.
On some points further investigation will be necessary. Israel has reiterated that some prominent Palestinian life prisoners will not be exchanged for hostages, starting with the organizer of the Intifada, Marwan Barghouti. Hamas, however, would like to have Yahya Sinwar’s body back as part of the first phase of the agreement. A circumstance, however, denied by the Tel Aviv source: “Israel will not hand over the body of the terrorist Sinwar to Hamas as part of the agreement.” The new round of negotiations is scheduled for this morning in Doha, while in the early afternoon, at 2.30 pm, Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu will meet the families of the hostages who they hope will arrive with the news of the agreement.
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