Tel Aviv [Israel], January 23: Israeli officials said the government is waiting for Hamas to respond to the proposal for a 2-month ceasefire in the Gaza Strip with many specific terms.
Axios page on January 23 quoted two Israeli officials as saying that the country's government has proposed a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip for 2 months, in a multi-phase agreement that includes the release of all hostages held by Hamas.
The proposal was made through negotiators Qatar and Egypt, with the longest proposed ceasefire period since the conflict broke out on October 7, 2023, although there has been no agreement to end the conflict.
More than 130 hostages are currently being held in Gaza. Israeli officials said some hostages may have died.
US President Joe Biden's advisor Brett McGurk arrived in Egypt on January 21 and will continue to visit Qatar for dialogue to promote progress in negotiations to release hostages held by Hamas.
Two Israeli officials said that 10 days ago, the country's war cabinet approved the terms of a new proposal for a hostage agreement that was different from previous proposals.
Israeli officials are waiting for Hamas to respond. The proposal includes releasing hostages in stages, with the first phase being the release of men over 60 years old, women and hostages with serious health problems.
The next stage is to release female soldiers, men under 60 years old, male soldiers and the bodies of dead hostages.
At the same time, Israel and Hamas will agree on the number of Palestinian prisoners that Israel will release. Israeli officials said the proposal made clear that Israel would not agree to end the war and would not release all 6,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons.
However, they said that if the agreement is implemented, Israel will significantly reduce the scale of its campaign in Gaza after a two-month ceasefire.
Spokesman John Kirby of the US National Security Council said President Biden supports a ceasefire that would help release hostages and bring more humanitarian aid into Gaza.
In another development, CNN on January 23 quoted sources as saying that Israel proposed that senior leaders of Hamas could leave Gaza in the ceasefire agreement. Hamas is said to be unlikely to agree on this issue.
Source: Thanh Nien Newspaper
