Report: Hamas presents counterproposal for hostage deal

This only provides for the release of Israeli hostages in exchange for Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons and a gradual withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Gaza Strip after a 42-day ceasefire, the Israeli newspaper “Haaretz” reported on Monday night. The terrorist organization had previously rejected a compromise proposal from the USA, which envisaged the release of 40 hostages against 900 Palestinian prisoners during a six-week ceasefire.

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Counterproposal envisages 2 phases

According to Haaretz, Hamas’ counter-proposal calls for the Israeli military to stop fighting in an initial six-week phase and withdraw from the urban centers to the periphery of the sealed-off coastal area. At the same time, displaced Palestinians would be allowed to return to the northern Gaza Strip, it said. During this time, Hamas would search for all hostages in the contested area and determine their condition. In a second phase, the Israeli army would have to withdraw into Israeli territory. Only then would the exchange of Israeli hostages for Palestinian prisoners begin, it was said.

For every Israeli civilian, Israel would have to release 30 Palestinian prisoners from prisons in return, it said. For every Israeli soldier, 50 Palestinians would have to be released from Israeli prisons, including 30 who are serving life sentences. The Israeli soldiers and dead hostages would be handed over in a third and final phase when the Israeli army’s siege of the Gaza Strip ends and the reconstruction of the area begins.

Israel had previously assumed that just under 100 of the approximately 130 hostages remaining in the Gaza Strip were still alive. But now there are fears that significantly more could be dead. Israel wants to keep open the possibility of continuing the fighting in Gaza after a ceasefire.