For the first time since November 2023, what is keeping Israel in suspense is not yet another step toward the collapse of negotiations, but a forcibly contained optimism, awaiting the announcement that the hostages will return home for real this time. After 15 months of captivity and darkness in Gaza. "There is a real possibility of concluding the agreement this week, before President Joe Biden leaves the White House," US security adviser Jake Sullivan told Bloomberg.
The words come after a crucial night in Doha, where the breakthrough in the talks appears to have been reached with the meeting between Trump's envoy, Steve Witkoff, Qatari Prime Minister al-Thani and Mossad director David Barnea. According to Israeli media, al-Thani met with Hamas representatives, while Witkoff spoke with the Israeli delegation. In both cases, it was said, as the Arab press reported, that in the event of a no-deal, both Israel and Hamas will foot the bill. Meanwhile, Channel 12 reported that the draft was received by Israel overnight and that it was deemed largely acceptable.
The document has also been approved by Hamas leaders abroad and the signing of the agreement now depends exclusively on the de facto head of the terrorist organization, Muhammed Sinwar, brother of the leader Yahya killed by the IDF and legitimate heir of terror in Gaza: "The decision that will transform the negotiations into a definitive agreement is in his hands," commented a high-level Israeli source, very close to the talks. From the Strip a statement relaunched on Telegram promises hope: addressed to Palestinian prisoners in Israel, the group informs them that "they are close to liberation."
In Washington, the White House announced that on Monday morning the outgoing president had a telephone conversation with the Emir of Qatar Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani and that both stressed the "urgent need for an agreement". The emir also met with Biden's envoy Brett McGurk and Trump's envoy Steve Witkoff in Doha. He later received the Hamas delegation led by chief negotiator Khalil a Haya. While in the evening, a Turkish security source announced that Ankara's intelligence chief, Ibrahim Kalin, spoke on the phone with officials from the Hamas political office to discuss the "progress and current state of negotiations". In short, as if to say that the pressure on Hamas, both from Qatar and Turkey, has become even more intense. At the conceivable request of the United States. In these dramatic hours, the proposal on the table is only waiting for the final response.
The talks focused mainly on a three-phase plan, in which the so-called 'humanitarian cases' will be released first: 33 kidnapped people including women, children, men over 50 and sick people (including seriously wounded soldiers). In exchange, there will be the release of 1,300 Palestinian terrorists held in Israeli prisons. With Israel still believing that most of the 33 kidnapped people on the list are alive. The first part of the agreement provides for a ceasefire of 42 days in total (but it is estimated that the phases could be reduced to two). On the 16th day, discussions on the second part of the agreement will begin. From Jerusalem, senior politicians said that the negotiations are "at a very advanced stage".
At this point, it remains to be seen how one of Israel's requests will be handled: its presence in Gaza, during and after the possible truce, with the new buffer zone of about a kilometer and a half along the border of the Strip, while previously it was 300 meters. Not only that, the Israeli side has made it clear without the possibility of discussion that some important Palestinian lifers will not be exchanged for the hostages, starting with the organizer of the Intifada, Marwan Barghouti. In the evening, the Israeli prime minister met again with the far-right minister Ben Gvir who, with his colleague Bezalel Smotrich, is drastically opposed to the agreement. A new round of negotiations is scheduled for Tuesday morning in Doha. At 2:30 p.m., Benyamin Netanyahu will meet with the families of the hostages who hope he will arrive with the news of the agreement.
(Online Union)
