Hamas 'APPROVES Gaza truce and hostage deal': Agreement to end war with Israel is hoped to be imminent
Hamas has approved a Gaza truce and hostage release deal, Palestinian sources close to negotiations said today, after mediator Qatar expressed hope an agreement to end the war could be reached very soon.
After months of failed bids to end the deadliest war in Gaza's history, negotiators were making a final push in Qatar to seal a ceasefire.
Qatar's foreign ministry spokesman Majed al-Ansari had said on Tuesday that negotiations were in their 'final stages', and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with top security officials to discuss the deal late that night, his office said.
Two Palestinian sources close to the talks told AFP on Wednesday that Hamas and its ally Islamic Jihad had approved the draft agreement.
'The resistance factions reached an agreement among themselves and informed the mediators of their approval of the (prisoner-hostage) exchange deal and ceasefire,' one source told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Hamas sparked the war in Gaza by staging the deadliest-ever attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, resulting in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.
Hamas also took 251 people hostage during the attack, 94 of whom are still being held in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Israel's retaliatory campaign in Gaza has killed 46,707 people, most of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory's health ministry that the UN considers reliable.
A woman speaks on the phone at a bus stop decorated with portraits of Israelis hostages held in the Gaza Strip, in Jerusalem on January 15, 2025
An Israeli Black Hawk military helicopter lands inside North Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, as seen from Israel, January 14, 2025
A Palestinian paramedic carries a wounded baby at Al Aqsa hospital following an Israeli air strike on Deir Al Balah town, central Gaza Strip, 14 January 2025
Smoke rises from the northern Gaza Strip, amid the ongoing conflict in Gaza between Israel and Hamas, as seen from the Israel side of the border, near Sderot in southern Israel January 15
Pressure to put an end to the fighting had ratcheted up in recent days, as mediators Qatar, Egypt and the United States intensified efforts to seal a deal and enable the release of the hostages.
With just days to go before Donald Trump's inauguration as president of the United States, outgoing Secretary of State Antony Blinken had said Tuesday that a deal was 'ready to be concluded and implemented'.
And Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said there was a 'true willingness from our side to reach an agreement'.
Relatives of Israeli hostages and war-weary Palestinians in Gaza were anxious for the deal to be finalised.
'Time is of the essence,' said Gil Dickmann, cousin of former hostage Carmel Gat whose body was recovered in September.
'Hostages who are alive will end up dead. Hostages who are dead might be lost,' Dickmann told AFP. 'We have to act now.'
Umm Ibrahim Abu Sultan, displaced from Gaza City to Khan Yunis in the south, said that she had 'lost everything' in the war.
'I am anxiously awaiting the truce,' said the mother of five.
Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said the first phase of a deal would see 33 Israeli hostages freed, while two Palestinian sources close to Hamas told AFP that Israel would release about 1,000 Palestinian prisoners in exchange.
A source close to Hamas said that the initial hostage release would be 'in batches, starting with children and women'.
Hanan Shaqoura embraces the body of her son, Mohammad, 7, who was killed in the Israeli bombardment of the Gaza Strip, during his funeral in Deir al-Balah, Wednesday, Jan. 15
A man holds a poster as families and supporters of Israeli hostages gather to demand a deal that will bring back all the hostages held in Gaza, in Jerusalem, January 14, 2025
Lian Abu Obeida, a 3-year-old Palestinian girl who was wounded in various parts of her body in the Israeli attacks on Gaza, is pictured in Khan Yunis, Gaza on January 14
People walk past stalls selling goods amid the rubble of buildings destroyed during previous Israeli strikes, in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on January 15
Negotiations for a second phase would commence on the truce's 16th day, an Israeli official said, with media reports saying it would see the release of the remaining captives.
Under the proposed deal, Israel would maintain a buffer zone inside Gaza during the first phase, according to Israeli media.
Among the sticking points in talks have been disagreements over the permanence of any ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli troops and the scale of humanitarian aid for the Palestinian territory.
The UN's Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, facing an Israeli ban on its activities set to take effect later this month, said it will continue providing much-needed aid.
Netanyahu has rejected a full withdrawal from Gaza and opposed any post-war role for Hamas in the territory.
Blinken said Tuesday Israel would ultimately 'have to accept reuniting Gaza and the West Bank under the leadership of a reformed' Palestinian Authority, and embrace a 'path toward forming an independent Palestinian state'.
He added that the 'best incentive' to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace remained the prospect of normalisation between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
Palestinian women mourn over the covered bodies of the members of a Palestinian family killed in an Israeli airstrike, at Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir Al Balah town, 15 January 2025
Israeli military vehicles move inside the Gaza Strip, as seen from southern Israel, on Jan. 7
A demonstrator raises a placard during an protest calling for action to secure the release of Israelis held hostages, in front of the Israeli defence ministry in Tel Aviv on January 14, 2025
The demonstrators carried photos of their relatives and banners reading 'Stop the war'
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Mustafa, speaking in Oslo, said the latest push for a Gaza ceasefire showed that international pressure on Israel 'does pay off'.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces continued to pound targets across Gaza.
Gaza's civil defence agency said on Wednesday that strikes across the territory killed at least 27 people including a seven-year-old boy.
Israel's military said it had targeted Hamas militants overnight.
