Gaza: Hamas proposes 135-day ceasefire, complete Israeli withdrawal

The Palestinian group Hamas has proposed a cease-fire plan in which there will be no armed conflict in Gaza for four and a half months, during which time all prisoners will be released, Israel will withdraw its troops from the Gaza Strip and the war will end. will do

The group’s proposal follows an offer last week made by Qatari and Egyptian mediators and approved by Israel and the United States, according to Reuters.

There was no immediate public reaction to the proposal by Hamas, which has said it is unwilling to withdraw its forces from Gaza until Hamas is eliminated.

Hamas’ counter proposal consists of three phases and each phase lasts 45 days. Hamas will exchange remaining Israeli prisoners with Palestinian prisoners, reconstruction of Gaza will begin, Israel will withdraw all its troops, and bodies and remains will be exchanged.

US Secretary of State Anthony Blanken arrived in Israel last night after meeting with the leaders of Qatar and Egypt, the mediating countries.

Sources close to the talks say that Hamas’s counter-proposal does not initially require guarantees of a permanent cease-fire, but must agree to an end to fighting during a cease-fire before the last prisoners are released.

Izzat al-Rashiq, a member of Hamas’s political office, confirmed that the proposal had been passed on to the US and Israel via Egypt and Qatar.

He told Reuters: ‘We wanted to deal positively with an end to the aggression against our Palestinian people and a full and lasting ceasefire, as well as providing relief, assistance, shelter and reconstruction. .’

According to the document, in the first 45-day phase, in exchange for the release of Palestinian women and children from Israeli prisons, all Israeli female prisoners, men under the age of 19, and the elderly and sick will be released. Israel will also withdraw its troops from populated areas.

Implementation of the second phase will not begin until the parties have completed ‘indirect negotiations on the necessary requirements for the cessation of hostilities and a complete peace’.

The second phase includes the release of the remaining male prisoners and the withdrawal of Israeli forces from the borders of all areas of the Gaza Strip.

During the third phase, bodies and remains will be exchanged. The ceasefire will also increase the delivery of food and other aid to Gazans, who are facing hunger and severe shortages of basic goods.

Yamin Hamad, a father of four who lives at a UN school in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, told Reuters via a messaging app: ‘People are hopeful, and they pray that this hope will translate into a real deal. Be changed to end the fight.’

In Rafah, on the southern edge of the Gaza Strip, half of the 2.3 million people live along the border fence with Egypt. The bodies of 10 people who died in the late night Israeli attacks have been kept in the hospital’s mortuary.

His relatives were there crying.

Mourner Mohammed Abundi said: ‘Every visit to Blinken makes things worse instead of peaceful, we get more attacks, we face more bombings and the US is the main partner in the war against the Palestinian people and is the head.’

According to the Ministry of Health of Gaza, at least 27,585 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli offensive that began on October 7, while thousands more are feared to be buried under the rubble.

The last ceasefire lasted for just one week in late November.