Hamas has proposed a 135-day ceasefire that would include the release of hostages held by remaining militants, the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip and an end to a war that has killed tens of thousands of people and left the area in ruins.
Foreign Secretary Anthony Blinken and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu discussed the plan on Wednesday, exactly four months after Hamas-led attacks on Israeli border communities sparked the conflict.
Netanyahu's office released a brief statement saying the details of the proposal were “being fully evaluated.” But Netanyahu has repeatedly said that Israeli forces will oversee Gaza's security even after the war. of Israel Channel 13 It cited a senior Israeli official as saying the Hamas proposal was unacceptable and that a discussion within the government included whether to reject the proposal altogether or enter into negotiations.
This proposal was published in Lebanon Al-Akbar The newspaper said a permanent cease-fire was not required at the start of the deal, but it was required before the last batch of hostages could be released. Female hostages, men under the age of 19, the elderly and the sick will be released along with Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons in the first 45-day phase.
The Hamas plan comes in response to the latest round of talks brokered by the US, Qatar and Egypt. The militant group issued a statement thanking Egypt, Qatar and “all countries that seek to end the brutal occupation” against the Palestinians. The statement said the response came after consultations between its leadership and other “opposition factions” in the region.
“The movement approached the proposal in a positive spirit to ensure a comprehensive and complete ceasefire, to end the aggression against our people, guarantee relief, shelter, reconstruction, lift the blockade of the Gaza Strip and complete the transfer of prisoners,” the statement said.
Hamas Response to Ceasefire Plan:Seen as 'positive' and 'over the top'
Developments:
∎ Hamas wants a deal guaranteed by Egypt, Qatar, Turkey, Russia and the United Nations — but not the United States
∎ Blinken was scheduled to meet with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank on Wednesday. The US has pushed for the authority to take a leadership role in Gaza since the war, a position Israel has consistently rejected.
Israel announced the killing of two more of its soldiers in Gaza, bringing the total number of troops killed in ground strikes to 227.
Hamas's First 45 Days Plan
The first phase of Hamas' plan would require a pause in fighting with Israel to redeploy its military forces from heavily populated areas in Gaza. In addition to freeing some hostages, Israel will release 1,500 Palestinians, including 500 selected by Hamas who could serve life sentences for terror-related activities.
The flow of humanitarian aid to the enclave will be drastically increased, and reconstruction of hospitals, homes and other critical buildings will begin. Gazans will be allowed to return if Israeli forces order them to leave their homes ahead of military strikes. Talks will begin with a view to ending the war permanently.
A final group of hostages will be released in the second phase of the deal
Some details of the second phase of the Hamas plan will be negotiated during the first phase. But the second phase is to conclude negotiations that would result in an end to the war and the release of hostages held by the militants in exchange for a “certain number” of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. It would mean the liberation of thousands of Palestinians. Israel will withdraw its forces from Gaza and the reconstruction of the area will be accelerated.
In the third phase, both sides will exchange the bodies of those killed in the war, along with Gaza's reconstruction and humanitarian aid.
The war reaches 4 months duration
Events marking four months since the start of the war were held in Jerusalem, London, Paris and elsewhere on Wednesday. The conflict began on October 7 when Hamas-led militants crossed the border into Israeli border communities in a killing spree that killed 1,200 people. Hours later the militants fled to Gaza with more than 240 hostages, more than 100 of whom were freed during a week-long ceasefire in November. More than 27,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israel's disastrous military effort to free hostages and remove Hamas from power.
Who are the Houthis and what do they want?
As global attention turns to cease-fire plans between Hamas and Israel, Houthi rebels in Yemen continue to disrupt shipping in the Middle East. Iranian-backed militias have been fighting for control of Yemen for more than a thousand years. Now they are It took on the massive military might of the US, Britain and their powerful Western allies.
Yemen experts say the Houthis are a political movement, not a military force And A religious group. They have been fighting a civil war in Yemen since 2014 against an emerging government backed militarily by Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and – presumably, through arms supplies – the US and Britain.
Beyond their stated reasons for defending Palestinians against an Israeli attack on Gaza, the Houthis seek to exploit the attacks on Red Sea ships for their own political and economic ends, said Gregory Johnson at the Arab Gulf States Institute in Washington. Read more here.
– Kim Helmgard
They support the Palestinians in Gaza.But what do Yemen's Houthi rebels really want?
