An Israeli official who briefed reporters on the proposed deal said its first stage would see 33 hostages set free — including children, women, some of whom are female soldiers, men above 50, and the wounded and sick.
According to Reuters, on the 16th day of the ceasefire, negotiations would start on a second stage during which the remaining living hostages — male soldiers and men of military age — would be released and the bodies of dead hostages returned.
The deal would see a phased troop withdrawal, with Israeli forces remaining in the border perimeter to defend Israeli border towns and villages. There would be security arrangements in the Philadelphi corridor, along the southern edge of Gaza, with Israel withdrawing from parts of it after the first few days of the deal.
Unarmed North Gaza residents would be allowed back, with a mechanism to ensure no weapons are moved there. Israeli troops will withdraw from the Netzarim corridor in central Gaza.
US President-elect Donald Trump’s January 20 inauguration is now widely seen as a de facto deadline for a ceasefire agreement, Reuters notes. Trump has said there would be “hell to pay” unless hostages held by Hamas are freed before he takes office.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said negotiators wanted to make sure Trump would continue to back the deal on the table so the attendance at the ceasefire talks of Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, along with Biden’s envoy Brett McGurk, has been “critical”.
