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lite.cnn.com - on gopher - inofficial | |
ARTICLE VIEW: | |
/ | |
Hamas to consider ceasefire-hostage release proposal that Israeli | |
sources say could avert Rafah invasion | |
By Becky Anderson and Jeremy Diamond, CNN | |
Updated: | |
1:01 PM EDT, Tue April 30, 2024 | |
Source: CNN | |
Hamas is considering a new framework proposed by Egypt that calls | |
for the group to release as many as 33 hostages kidnapped from | |
Israel in exchange for a pause in , an Israeli source familiar with | |
the negotiations and a foreign diplomatic source told CNN. | |
The latest proposal, which Israel helped craft but has not fully agreed | |
to, is laid out in two phases, the first of which calls for 20 to 33 | |
hostages to be released over several weeks in exchange for the pause | |
and the release of Palestinian prisoners. The second phase is what | |
sources described as the “restoration of sustainable calm,” during | |
which the remaining hostages, captive Israeli soldiers and the bodies | |
of hostages would be | |
The diplomatic source familiar with the talks said the reference to | |
sustainable calm was “a way to agree to a permanent ceasefire without | |
calling it that.” | |
At the same time, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he believes | |
a deal is “achievable because the Israelis put a strong proposal on | |
the table.” The top diplomat, speaking to the press at a humanitarian | |
aid site in Jordan, said Washington wants to see the agreement come | |
together “in the coming days.” | |
After months of deadlock, agreement from both sides would be a major | |
step toward ending the war. But a failure to agree could deepen | |
Israel’s presence in Gaza – if no deal is made, Israel is likely to | |
launch a large-scale ground invasion into the southern Gaza city of | |
Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians are sheltering. | |
Israel’s allies, including the United States, have warned against the | |
operation due to the potential for large-scale civilian casualties. | |
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned on Tuesday, however, | |
that Israel would launch an operation in Rafah “with or without a | |
deal.” | |
Israel is awaiting a response from Hamas, whose delegation met Egyptian | |
and Qatari mediators in Cairo on Monday. An Israeli official told CNN | |
early on Tuesday that a mid-level Israeli delegation of security | |
officials could travel to Cairo Tuesday, but it wasn’t clear if it | |
did. | |
A response from Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader in Gaza, is expected | |
within days. | |
The length of the first phase of the pause in hostilities would be | |
linked to the number of hostages released, with the latest framework | |
calling for a one-day pause for each hostage, the Israeli source said, | |
although this number is expected to shift during more in-depth | |
negotiations. | |
The release of 40 hostages for a six-week ceasefire had been the basis | |
of negotiations for months, but Israel has agreed to accept fewer | |
hostages in the first phase after Hamas dropped its offer to fewer than | |
20 people earlier this month. | |
‘Extraordinarily generous’ proposal | |
Blinken said on Monday that Hamas has been presented with a ceasefire | |
proposal that is “extraordinarily generous on the part of Israel.” | |
“In this moment the only thing standing between the people of Gaza | |
and a ceasefire is Hamas,” he told World Economic Forum (WEF) | |
President Børge Brende in the Saudi capital Riyadh. “They (Hamas) | |
have to decide and they have to decide quickly,” he said. “I’m | |
hopeful that they will make the right decision.” | |
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, also speaking in Riyadh, said | |
he was hopeful that Israel and Hamas will accept the proposal. | |
“There is a proposal on the table, up to the two sides to consider | |
and accept but certainly the objective is a ceasefire, a permanent | |
ceasefire and dealing with the humanitarian conditions,” Shoukry told | |
a panel at the WEF in Riyadh on Monday. | |
He said he is hopeful that “the proposal has been taken into | |
account” and that “we are waiting to have a final decision.” | |
Israeli officials have expressed an openness to negotiating the | |
“restoration of sustainable calm” as part of a comprehensive deal | |
that would effectively end the war. | |
An Israeli source familiar with the negotiations said Egypt has | |
proposed the parties agree to a one-year ceasefire as part of a | |
comprehensive deal that would see Israeli forces withdraw from Gaza and | |
the release of all remaining hostages and the bodies of those who have | |
died. | |
CNN has reached out to the Egyptian government for comment. | |
Hamas has insisted that a permanent ceasefire and a full Israeli | |
withdrawal from Gaza should be part of the agreement. Israel has thus | |
far maintained that its operation in Gaza will continue until Hamas is | |
eradicated. | |
Israel has also now agreed to the unrestricted movement of Palestinians | |
to northern Gaza, the sources said, a key demand by Hamas which has | |
held back negotiations in the past. | |
Rafah operation | |
Hanging over the negotiations is the prospect of an Israeli military | |
offensive in Rafah, which Israeli officials have signposted for months | |
but are now holding back, saying they want to give space to the | |
negotiations. | |
Israeli sources have characterized the latest Egyptian effort to broker | |
a deal as the last chance to avert that offensive. | |
Netanyahu complicated the situation on Tuesday, telling hostage | |
families that Israeli troops will “enter Rafah and eliminate the | |
Hamas battalions there – with or without a deal,” according to the | |
prime minister’s office. | |
On Tuesday, the Israeli military said commanders had approved | |
“upcoming missions” for a possible offensive into Rafah, although | |
US officials told CNN there were no signs of an imminent offensive. | |
The US and other allies of Israel warned such an operation would not | |
have their support unless adequate measures were taken to ensure the | |
safety of civilians. | |
Blinken said in Riyadh the US had “not yet seen a plan that civilians | |
can be effectively protected.” | |
US officials do not view Israel’s recent public threats of a | |
potential Rafah incursion as empty rhetoric, one senior administration | |
official said, adding that some signs of preparations related to the | |
possible displacement of civilians had been seen. The threat is also | |
seen by US officials as part of the ongoing efforts to pressure Hamas | |
to accept a ceasefire and hostages release deal. | |
“Our position on Rafah is absolutely the same,” White House | |
national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters on Tuesday. | |
“We don’t want to see a major ground operation in Rafah,” Kirby | |
said. “Certainly, we don’t want to see operations that hadn’t | |
factored in safety and security of those 1.5 million folks trying to | |
seek refuge down there.” | |
In a call Sunday with Netanyahu, US President Joe Biden addressed the | |
need for increased humanitarian assistance and “reiterated his clear | |
position” on a potential Israeli invasion of Rafah, according to a | |
White House readout of the conversation. | |
Philippe Lazzarini, chief of the UN’s Palestinian agency UNRWA, said | |
there is “an extraordinary deep anxiety prevailing” in Gaza, as | |
human rights organizations warned and catastrophic consequences ahead | |
of Israel’s looming assault in Rafah. | |
“People have not yet been asked to evacuate from Rafah, but there is | |
a sense that if there is no deal this week that this can happen at any | |
time,” he said in a press conference from Geneva on Tuesday. | |
Rising death toll | |
The death toll from Israel’s bombardment in Gaza continued to climb | |
over the weekend. | |
Twenty two people, including at least one infant and a toddler, | |
following an Israeli airstrike over Rafah, Gaza, overnight into Monday, | |
according to hospital officials. | |
And in Gaza City, seven Palestinians were killed and dozens injured in | |
two separate Israeli airstrikes overnight, Gaza Civil Defense | |
spokesperson Mahmmoud Basal told CNN. An Israeli airstrike struck a | |
two-story house belonging to the Tartouri family in the port area west | |
of Gaza City, killing 5 Palestinians and wounding several others, | |
Basal said. | |
In a separate attack, two people were killed and several others injured | |
when an Israeli airstrike targeted a house belonging to the Hijazi | |
family in the Sabra neighborhood in the center of Gaza City, | |
according to Basal. | |
Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed 34,535 Palestinians and injured | |
another 77,704 people, the Ministry of Health there reported on April | |
30. At least 72% of those killed are women and children, according to | |
the ministry. | |
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