Gaza ceasefire ‘closer than ever’ as US says truce between Israel and Hamas could ‘come anytime’
First phase of agreement likely to involve release of 33 Israeli hostages and up to 1,000 Palestinian prisoners
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Your support makes all the difference.The US and Qatar have said that a ceasefire deal in Gaza between Israel and Hamas is closer than ever before, with America’s top diplomat saying a truce could be agreed “at any time”.
Negotiators met in Doha on Tuesday hoping to hammer out final details of a deal, which would include the release of hostages held by Hamas in return for Palestinians held in Israeli jails being freed.
“I believe we will get a ceasefire,” the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said during a speech on Tuesday, asserting it was up to Hamas. “It’s right on the brink. It’s closer than it’s ever been before,” and word could “come anytime”.
“It could come in the hours ahead. It could come in the days ahead,” Mr Blinken said. Qatar’s foreign ministry spokesperson Majed Al-Ansari told a news conference that talks on the final details were underway after both sides were presented with a text.
Hamas said the talks had reached the final steps and that it hoped this round of negotiations would lead to a deal after mediation by Qatar, Egypt and the United States. An Israeli official said talks had reached a critical phase although some details needed to be hammered out: “We are close, we are not there yet.”
Islamic Jihad, which is separate from Hamas and also holds hostages in Gaza, said it was sending a senior delegation that would arrive in Doha on Tuesday night to take part in final arrangements for a ceasefire deal.
If successful, the phased ceasefire – capping over a year of start-and-stop talks – could halt fighting that has laid waste to Gaza, killed tens of thousands of Palestinians, made most of the enclave’s population homeless and is still killing dozens a day. That in turn could ease tensions across the wider Middle East, where the war has fuelled conflict in the occupied West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen and Iraq, and raised fears of all-out war between Israel and Iran.
Hamas killed around 1,200 people in a terror attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023, and abducted another 250. Some 100 Israelis are still being held captive inside the Gaza Strip, but the military believes at least a third of them are dead. Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry.
Families of hostages in Israel were on edge. Meirav Leshem Gonen, whose 24-year-old daughter Romi was shot and seized by gunmen at a music festival, told Radio 103 her family had been picturing her return for months as “the light at the end of the tunnel”.
“We have to keep our feet on the ground. But, on the other hand, our heads are in the clouds.”
An Israeli official told the Associated Press the three-phase agreement – based on a framework laid out by US president Joe Biden and endorsed by the UN Security Council – would begin with the release of 33 hostages over a six-week period, including women, children, older adults and wounded civilians in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian women and children imprisoned by Israel.
Among the 33 would be five female Israeli soldiers, each to be released in exchange for 50 Palestinian prisoners, including 30 who are serving life sentences. The official said Israel assumes most of the 33 are alive.
During this 42-day phase, Israeli forces would withdraw from population centers, Palestinians could start returning to what remains of their homes in northern Gaza and there would be a surge of humanitarian aid, with some 600 trucks entering each day.
Details of the second phase still must be negotiated during the first. Those details remain difficult to resolve – and there is no written guarantee that the ceasefire will continue until a deal is reached. That means Israel could resume its military campaign after the first phase ends.
The Israeli official said “detailed negotiations” on the second phase will begin during the first. He said Israel will retain some “assets” throughout negotiations, referring to a military presence, and would not leave the Gaza Strip until all hostages are home.
Families of hostages unlikely to be in the first group remained anxious. As Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu briefed relatives of some hostages, others protested outside his office.
“The prime minister should bring a deal that includes all the hostages, including my son,” said Ruby Chen, whose soldier son, Itay, was killed on 7 October 2023. His body has since been held in Gaza. “He saved many people, he doesn’t deserve to rot in Gaza,” his mother added.
Speaking at the Atlantic Council in Washington in his final days as the US top diplomat, Mr Blinken said the White House envisioned a reformed Palestinian Authority leading Gaza and inviting international partners to help establish and run an interim administration for the enclave.
A security force would be formed from forces from partner nations and vetted Palestinian personnel, Mr Blinken said during his speech, which was repeatedly interrupted by protesters.
Only one ceasefire has been held in Gaza so far, lasting for a single week in November 2023, during which around half of the hostages, including most women, children and foreign labourers, were freed in return for Palestinian detainees.
Both sides have been committed in principle for months to the prospect of a ceasefire accompanied by a swap of remaining hostages for detainees. But previous talks foundered over the steps that would follow, with Hamas rejecting any deal that stopped short of bringing a permanent end to the war, while Israel said it would not end the war until Hamas is dismantled.
Fighting has meanwhile raged on, focused in recent months on Gaza’s northern edge where Israel says its forces are trying to prevent Hamas from regrouping and Palestinians say the Israelis are trying to permanently depopulate a buffer zone. Nightly Israeli strikes have continued across the enclave.
Gaza health officials said on Tuesday that Israeli strikes had killed at least 27 Palestinians in the past day, including one Gazan journalist. One of those attacks killed 10 people in a house in Khan Younis south of the enclave. Another killed nine people in a tent encampment in Deir Al-Balah in central Gaza.
Mr Trump’s inauguration on 20 January is now widely seen as a de facto deadline for a ceasefire agreement. Mr Trump has said there would be “hell to pay” unless hostages held by Hamas were freed before he takes office, while President Biden has also called for a final push for a deal before he leaves.
Reuters and Associated Press contributed to this report
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