Hamas has proposed a ceasefire plan that would silence the guns in Gaza for four and a half months, leading to an end to the war and the release of the remaining hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners and the IDF's withdrawal from Gaza.
This is in response to a proposal submitted last week by Qatari and Egyptian mediators and supported by the United States and Israel.
According to a draft document seen by Portal, the Hamas counter-proposal calls for three phases, each lasting 45 days.
The proposal calls for terrorists to exchange the remaining Israeli hostages they captured on October 7 for Palestinian prisoners.
Reconstruction of Gaza would begin, Israeli forces would fully withdraw, and bodies and remains would be exchanged.
The proposal calls for terrorists to exchange the remaining Israeli hostages they captured on October 7 for Palestinian prisoners
Palestinians return to their neighborhood after Israeli forces withdrew from the Shuja'iyya neighborhood and inspect buildings and streets destroyed by Israeli attacks in Gaza City, Gaza, on Tuesday
Smoke rose during the Israeli bombardment in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip on Tuesday
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel overnight after meeting with the leaders of mediators Qatar and Egypt. The most serious diplomatic push of the war so far was aimed at a longer ceasefire. Details of Hamas's counteroffer have not yet been disclosed.
According to the document, during the first 45-day period, all Israeli female hostages, men under 19, and the elderly and sick would be released in exchange for the release of Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons. Israel would also withdraw its troops from populated areas in the first phase.
Implementation of the second phase would begin only after the sides “conclude indirect discussions on the requirements necessary to end mutual military operations and return to complete calm.”
The second phase would include the release of the remaining male hostages and “the withdrawal of Israeli forces outside the borders of all areas of the Gaza Strip.”
In the third phase, bodies and remains would be exchanged. The ceasefire would also increase the flow of food and other aid to Gaza's desperate civilian population, which is suffering from hunger and a severe lack of basic supplies.
According to a report, 32 of the more than 130 hostages still being held by Hamas are no longer alive.
Citing a confidential assessment by Israeli intelligence officials, the New York Times reported yesterday that more hostages had been killed than previously thought.
Up to that point, the IDF had only confirmed the deaths of 29 of the prisoners still in Gaza.
In addition to the 32 confirmed deaths, the IDF is evaluating “unconfirmed intelligence” that at least 20 other hostages may also have been killed, the report said, citing four military officials who spoke on condition of anonymity.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken (l) meets with Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, Prime Minister and Foreign Minister of Qatar, in Doha, Qatar, on Tuesday
A view of the demolition as Palestinians return to their neighborhood to search for their belongings in the Shuja'iyya district after Israeli forces withdrew from the area in Gaza City, Gaza
A view of the demolition as Palestinians return to their neighborhood to search for their belongings in the Shuja'iyya district after Israeli forces withdrew from the area in Gaza City, Gaza
The officials said all families of the deceased have been informed of their deaths and confirmed that most of those killed in the Oct. 7 attacks were killed and their bodies taken to Gaza.
IDF spokesman Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari responded to the report by saying that the IDF was “working by all means possible to return.” [the hostages] home and exhaustive information about her and her condition.
He added: “The IDF is accompanying the families of the hostages in these complex and difficult days, and our representatives are providing the families with all confirmed information about their relatives.”
He said the IDF had so far informed the families of 31 hostages that their relatives had been confirmed to have been killed.
These include 29 hostage-takings by Hamas on October 7 – all announced in recent months – as well as soldiers Oron Shaul and Hadar Goldin, who were killed in 2014 and their bodies confiscated by Hamas.
“We have given the remaining families detailed information about their fate and condition,” he added.
The Forum for Hostages and Missing Families said the IDF said before publishing the article that 31 of the hostages had died instead of 32.
Israel began its military offensive in the Gaza Strip after terrorists from the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip killed 1,200 people and took 253 hostages in southern Israel on October 7.
132 of the 253 seized hostages are believed to still be in custody following a week-long ceasefire in late November in which 105 people were released.
Four hostages were released before the ceasefire and another was rescued by the military.
According to Gaza's Health Ministry, at least 27,708 people have been killed in Israel's military campaign and thousands more are believed to be buried under rubble.