A draft of the ongoing negotiations between Israel and Hamas reveals that Israel is set to make significant concessions in exchange for the release of female soldiers held hostage, as reported by The Associated Press, which obtained a copy of the agreement.
The proposed three-step deal would commence with the phased release of 33 hostages over six weeks, including women, children, elderly individuals, and the injured, in return for a possible release of hundreds of Palestinian women and children held by Israel.
Among the 33 hostages would be five Israeli female soldiers, who would be exchanged for 50 Palestinian prisoners, including 30 terrorists convicted of serious security offenses who are serving life sentences.
The first phase, which lasts 42 days, would see Israeli troops withdraw from civilian areas, allowing Palestinians to begin returning to their homes in northern Gaza. Additionally, there would be a major increase in humanitarian aid, with approximately 600 trucks entering the region each day.
Israel would retain control over the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border during the first phase, a region Hamas initially demanded Israel leave. However, Israel would pull out of the Netzarim Corridor, an area in central Gaza where it had sought a process to search Palestinians for weapons as they returned northward.
The second phase of the plan would involve Hamas releasing the remaining living hostages, primarily male soldiers, in return for additional prisoners and the “complete withdrawal” of Israeli forces from Gaza, according to the draft. However, Hamas has made it clear that it will not release the remaining captives without both an end to the war and full Israeli withdrawal. In contrast, Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu has previously stated that hostilities will continue unless Hamas’s military and governmental structures are dismantled.
In the final phase, the bodies of the remaining hostages would be returned, and in exchange, a three- to five-year plan for Gaza’s reconstruction would be implemented under international supervision.
{Matzav.com}