(MENAFN- Gulf Times)
The tentative agreement would include a five-day truce, comprised of a complete ceasefire on the ground and an end to Israeli air operations over Gaza, except in the north, where they would only halt for six hours daily. Under the deal, which the sources said could yet change, between 50 and 100 Israeli and dual-national civilians would be released in exchange for some 300 Palestinian women and children currently held in Israeli jails.
The leader of Hamas said Tuesday a truce with Israel was close and Israel's prime minister said he hoped for good news soon about hostages, the most optimistic signs so far of a deal to pause the devastating war in Gaza and free captives.
As negotiations appeared to be nearing agreement, however, the fighting on the ground raged on with Israel saying its forces had encircled the Jabalia refugee camp, a major urban flashpoint and Hamas stronghold.
Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh said in a statement sent to Reuters by his aide that group officials were "close to reaching a truce agreement" with Israel and the group had delivered its latest response to Qatari mediators.
US President Joe Biden told reporters that an accord to release some of the more than 200 hostages held by Hamas was very near. "My team is in the region shuttling between capitals. We're now very close, very close, to bringing some of these hostages home very soon," he said.
A Hamas official told Al Jazeera TV earlier that negotiations were centred on how long the truce would last, arrangements for delivery of aid into Gaza and details of the exchange of captives. Both sides would free women and children, and details would be announced by Qatar, which is mediating in the negotiations, said the official, Issat el Reshiq.
The armed wing of the Palestinian militant group Islamic Jihad announced late on Tuesday the death of one of the Israeli hostages it has held since the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel. "We previously expressed our willingness to release her for humanitarian reasons, but the enemy was stalling and this led to her death," Al Quds Brigades said on its Telegram channel.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet that accepting a deal for the release of hostages taken in the Hamas attacks of October 7 was "a difficult decision but it's a right decision".
"The entire security establishment fully supports it."
The hostages' families have demanded that Israel should insist on the return of all those being held.
Sources said that the tentative agreement would include a five-day truce, comprised of a complete ceasefire on the ground and an end to Israeli air operations over Gaza, except in the north, where they would only halt for six hours daily.
Under the deal, which the sources said could yet change, between 50 and 100 Israeli and dual-national civilians would be released in exchange for some 300 Palestinian women and children currently held in Israeli jails.
"It will allow the IDF to prepare for a continuation of the fight -- the war is ongoing, and it will continue until we achieve all of our objectives: destroying Hamas and bringing back all the hostages," Netanyahu said.
Qadura Fares, head of the Commission for Prisoners' Affairs in the Ramallah said that he had not seen the list of Palestinian prisoners included in the pending deal.
He said among more than 7,800 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel are some 85 women and 350 minors.
"Talk of an exchange deal is what has brought attention to the issue of the arbitrary detention of Palestinian children who are being tried in military courts," he said.
An Israel Prison Service spokesperson said they were not aware of a deal to release Palestinian prisoners. They said they did not have information on how many Palestinian women and children were in its custody and details on the kinds of offences they were sentenced for.
Hamas has to date released only four captives: US citizens Judith Raanan, 59, and her daughter, Natalie Raanan, 17, on Oct. 20, citing "humanitarian reasons," and Israeli women Nurit Cooper, 79, and Yocheved Lifshitz, 85, on Oct. 23.
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