GAZA: On Wednesday, Hamas announced that it has conveyed fresh “ideas” to Qatari intermediaries in an attempt to put an end to Israel’s near-nine-month-long invasion of Gaza.
Israel declared that it would respond to Hamas’ “comments” on a plan to liberate its detainees in Palestinian territory and that it was “evaluating” them.
The international community is putting more pressure on both sides to agree to a ceasefire as the death toll from the nearly nine months of fighting rises and the situation for Gazans gets worse every day.
Israel claims that unless Hamas releases all of its captives, hostilities cannot end.
Leading the mediation has been Qatar, in collaboration with the US.
According to a Hamas statement, “We exchanged some ideas with the mediator brothers with the aim of stopping the aggression against our Palestinian people.”
The new strategy was verified by the Mossad intelligence agency and the office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“Mediators have conveyed to the negotiating team Hamas’s remarks on the outline of the [prisoners’] deal,” according to an Israeli statement. Israel is considering the comments and will respond to the mediators.
“The Qataris, in coordination with the United States, have been engaging with Hamas and Israel over the past weeks in an attempt to bridge the remaining gaps,” a source with knowledge of the negotiations claims.
