JNS
The terrorist group abandoned demand Israel leave the Strip as a precondition to releasing captives, "The Wall Street Journal" reports.
Hamas has agreed to two of Israel’s key conditions for a ceasefire in Gaza, raising hopes for an agreement to release hostages within days, The Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday.
Hamas for the first time agreed to accept the presence of Israeli forces in Gaza during a 60-day truce, the newspaper quoted unnamed Arab mediators as saying. The sources also confirmed to the paper reports from earlier in the week that Hamas had submitted a list of hostages, including U.S. citizens, whom it would release.
The purported breakthrough follows a threat on Dec. 3 by President-elect Donald Trump that there would be “hell to pay” unless the hostages were freed by the time he assumed office on Jan. 20.
Since a weeklong ceasefire in November 2023, in which Hamas released 105 civilians—81 people from Israel, 23 Thais and one Filipino—in exchange for 240 terrorists, it had spurned ceasefire proposals that did not include a full pullback by Israeli troops from Gaza. But the IDF’s continued offensive in Gaza, and blows sustained by key Hamas allies in the region, may have softened its stance.
The proposed agreement, backed by the U.S. and Egypt, includes a 60-day ceasefire, during which up to 30 hostages, including U.S. citizens, would be released.
In exchange, Israel would free Palestinian terrorists and increase humanitarian aid to Gaza. Israel and Hamas negotiators have engaged in talks in Cairo, while U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan is in the region to support the discussions.
The proposal includes Israel’s temporary military presence in the Philadelphi and Netzarim corridors, which Hamas previously resisted but now seems willing to accept, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The Philadelphi Corridor runs along Gaza's border with Sinai, and the Netzarim Corridor divides the Strip just south of Gaza City.
Hamas has also agreed to forgo maintaining a presence at Gaza's Rafah crossing with Egypt, according to the report.
On Nov. 27, Hezbollah in Lebanon accepted a ceasefire that left IDF troops in Lebanon after Hezbollah suffered crippling losses in a war it initiated in solidarity with Hamas in Gaza. As with Hezbollah, the IDF has killed the top command of Hamas, along with some 17,000 terrorists in Gaza and 700 more in Judea and Samaria, according to Tel Aviv University's Institute for National Security Studies.
Several talks with Hamas, including ones where its negotiators had shown signs of flexibility, have failed to lead to a ceasefire.
The current proposal also faces hurdles over the number of hostages to be released and the extent of Israel's military presence in Gaza. The sides have yet to resolve these points, including the question of whether the ceasefire would lead to a more permanent halt to hostilities.
The conflict began with the Hamas-led invasion of Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, in which thousands of terrorists murdered some 1,200 people and abducted another 250.
About 100 hostages remain in Gaza, with many of them feared to have died.
