New details of ceasefire agreement emerge
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu accused Hamas of backtracking on the ceasefire agreement and is refusing to convene the Cabinet to discuss it on Thursday morning.
“Hamas is backing out of the understandings and creating a last-minute crisis that prevents a settlement,” Netanyahu said in a statement. “Hamas is backing out of the explicit understandings agreed upon with the mediators and Israel in a last-minute blackmail attempt.”
He added, “Israel will not set a date for a cabinet and government meeting until the mediators announce that Hamas has approved all the details of the agreement.”
Subsequently, the government’s Directorate of Abductees, Returnees, and Missing Persons updated families of abductees that “in recent hours Hamas has added demands that contradict the agreement with the mediators.”
The directorate added, “Negotiations remain ongoing, and no official announcement has been made regarding their outcome or the scheduled cabinet meeting. Families are urged to rely solely on authorized sources for updates.”
More details of the yet-to-be-finalized ceasefire agreement have emerged. An Israeli Cabinet meeting to discuss the deal on Thursday morning was apparently postponed to the late afternoon as negotiators in Qatar worked to finalize a list of Palestinian security prisoners who would be released.
The agreement, which Qatari officials said would take effect on Sunday, outlines a series of prisoner and hostage exchanges. Of the 98 hostages, 33 women, children, elderly and sick captives would be released in exchange for 110 Palestinian terrorists serving life sentences in Israeli prisons.
The deal prioritizes the release of hostages aged over 50 from the initial group of 33. The exchange ratios for this phase include one hostage to three prisoners serving life sentences and one hostage to 27 prisoners with lesser sentences.
Additionally, two Israeli citizens, Avera Mengistu and Hisham al-Sayed, who have been held in Gaza since 2015 and 2014 respectively, will also be freed. Their release will follow a ratio of one to 30, with 47 other prisoners who were re-arrested after their initial release under the 2011 Gilad Shalit deal also set to be freed. Further releases will involve Palestinian prisoners detained abroad or in Gaza, based on mutually agreed lists.
The most contentious aspect of the agreement is that the fate of the remaining 65 hostages will be determined by negotiations to begin on the 16th day of the ceasefire. Critics say the phased approach condemns hostages not freed in the beginning to open-ended captivity and undermines Israel’s war gains.
The ceasefire would potentially lead to the release of some 1,000 Palestinian terrorists imprisoned in Israel. While many would be sent back to their homes in Judea, Samaria and Gaza, higher profile prisoners will be deported. After Israeli authorities publish a list of prisoners to be released, terror victims will have an opportunity to file legal petitions.
However, members of Hamas’s Nukhba Force, who participated in the October 7 attack will not be released.
The agreement also entails a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces from populated areas near the Israeli border as well as the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border. This process will commence on the 42nd day after the first phase and is scheduled for completion by the 50th day. The Philadelphia Corridor is a buffer zone that runs the length of the Gaza-Egypt border. It was created in 2006 to prevent weapons smuggling after Israel disengaged from the Strip. It became a flashpoint the following year when Hamas violently seized control of Gaza.
Israeli forces will redeploy from several areas along Gaza’s border, including Wadi Gaza. Exceptions will extend up to an additional 400 meters in five specific locations, determined by Israel. Palestinians who fled northern Gaza will be allowed to return in phases starting on the seventh day of the ceasefire. Initial returns will occur on foot without weapons or security checks via Al-Rashid Street. Vehicle access subject to Israeli inspections will begin later.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office has denied reports that forces would be redeployed from the Netzarim Corridor.
Egyptian officials are preparing to reopen the Rafah border crossing to facilitate the release of the hostages and for the medical evacuation of sick and injured Palestinians. Daily passage for 50 wounded Hamas fighters, accompanied by escorts, will be permitted under strict Israeli and Egyptian oversight.
At least 1,200 people were killed, and 252 Israelis and foreigners were taken hostage in Hamas’s attacks on Israeli communities near the Gaza border on October 7. Of the 125 remaining hostages, 39 are believed dead.
