Hopes hostages could be released next week

The proposed deal would involve staged ceasefires in Gaza and the release of convicted Palestinians terrorists from Israeli jails.

Israel and Hamas are working on a “compelling” deal to release the estimated 132 remaining hostages in exchange for an extended ceasefire, the UN Security Council was told this week.

The agreement could be reached early next week, according to Egyptian sources quoted in the London-based Al-Araby Al-Jadeed newspaper.

The deal is believed to involve a three-stage truce which would enable the release of all hostages, in exchange for a combination of staged ceasefires and the release of Palestinian security prisoners.

Phase one would see a six-week pause in fighting, during which civilian hostages would be released, and three Palestinian prisoners would be freed for each hostage. A higher ratio would be applied in later phases, when IDF soldiers and bodies of dead hostages would be released, perhaps alongside a longer truce.

“The proposal on the table is strong, and it is compelling,” US Ambassador to the United Nations Linda Thomas-Greenfield told the UN Security Council on Wednesday. “It envisions a much longer humanitarian pause than we saw in November, and it would allow for us to get the hostages out and more life-saving food, water, and medicine into Gaza.”

Israel agreed to the framework at a meeting in Paris on Sunday with the US, Qatar, and Egypt.

“Hamas now has a choice to make. It can continue to dig tunnels, to plan for its next attack, to use civilians and civilian infrastructure as human shields, or Hamas can lay down its weapons and accept the proposal on the table to release every hostage,” Thomas-Greenfield said.