Hamas studying three-phase Gaza truce plan as Israeli hardliners warn PM

Hamas says the proposal involves three stages, including the release of hostages held by the group and Palestinian prisoners held in Israel, writes an Al-Jazeera correspondent.

Hamas has confirmed that it is studying a three-phase proposal for a truce in Gaza, while hardline members of the Israeli government have threatened to collapse the coalition if any deal is not to their liking.

The Palestinian group’s political leader, Ismail Haniyeh, confirmed on Tuesday that he is studying the proposal, thrashed out in Paris over the weekend, to halt the war and enable the exchange of Israeli and Palestinian prisoners.

Haniyeh said in a statement that the group is “open to discussing any serious and practical initiatives or ideas, provided that they lead to a comprehensive cessation of aggression”.

Hamas also said that the plan must ensure the “complete withdrawal of the occupation forces from the Gaza Strip”.

The group’s leadership, he said, had received an invitation to Cairo to reach an “integrated vision” on the framework agreement.

Three phases

In a statement sent to Reuters, Hamas said the proposal involved three stages. The plan has been sent to Gaza to obtain the opinion of Hamas leaders there.

“The Hamas leadership will meet to discuss the paper and express its final opinion on it,” the statement said.

Sources told the news agency that the first phase would consist of a pause in fighting and the release of elderly, civilian women and children hostages.

Major deliveries of food and medicine to Gaza, facing a ruinous humanitarian crisis, would resume.

The second phase would see the release of female Israeli soldiers, another increase in aid deliveries, and the restoration of utility services to Gaza. The third phase would see the release of the bodies of deceased Israeli troops in exchange for Palestinian prisoners freed, two sources said.

The Hamas statement said the second phase would also involve the release of male military recruits.

“Military operations on both sides will stop during the three stages,” it said. The number of Palestinian prisoners to be released is to be left to the negotiation process “at every stage, with the Israeli side preparing to release those with high sentences,” it said.

The ultimate aim of this phased approach is the end of the war, and the release of male soldiers held captive in Gaza in exchange for Israel’s release of additional Palestinian prisoners held in jail.

If Hamas does agree to the framework proposal, it could still take days or weeks to settle logistical details of the truce and the release of hostages and prisoners, an official told Reuters.

Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani, said the framework discussed in Paris is based on elements of an initial proposal made by Israel and a counterproposal made by Hamas.

“We tried to blend things together to come up with some sort of reasonable ground that brings everybody together,” he said at Washington’s Atlantic Council think tank on Monday.

He added that “good progress” was made on a possible deal during meetings between intelligence officials from Egypt, Israel and the United States over the weekend.

The Qatari prime minister noted that Hamas has previously demanded a permanent ceasefire as a precondition for entering negotiations. However, he suggested that there is hope that its stance may have shifted.

“I believe we moved from that place to a place that potentially might lead to a ceasefire permanently in the future,” he said.

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad group in Gaza said it will not engage in any understandings regarding Israeli hostages without ensuring a comprehensive ceasefire and the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, the group’s secretary general Ziad al-Nakhala said in a statement on Tuesday.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday said Israel would continue its war in Gaza until “absolute victory” over Hamas.

He ruled out releasing “thousands” of Palestinian prisoners as part of any deal to halt the fighting and said the army would not withdraw from Gaza.