Gaza War: what is known about the ceasefire proposal accepted by Hamas that Israel is now analyzing

Hamas announced this Monday that it accepts a ceasefire proposal in Gaza made by Egypt and Qatar, which has raised hopes for a pause in the conflict.

The statement from the Islamic group came after Israel ordered the evacuation of some 100,000 Palestinians in the city of Rafah, in the south of the Strip, in order to carry out a military offensive that has been planned for months and which a large part opposes. of the international community.

Hamas specified that the head of its political office, Ismail Haniya, communicated its decision to the Prime Minister of Qatar and the Egyptian Intelligence Minister.

The announcement was welcomed with hope both in the Palestinian territories and in part of the international community, although Israel has not yet confirmed whether or not it will accept the proposal and continues its military operations in southern Gaza.

The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that the ceasefire offer from Egypt and Qatar “is far from the demands” of his government, although he agreed to negotiate and announced the upcoming sending of a delegation to the mediating countries.

Although it is unknown what exactly the proposal includes, Palestinian sources have leaked some details of what its content would be.

A senior Palestinian official who had access to the text indicated that Hamas accepts end “hostile activity forever” if the conditions of the truce are met.

The phrase suggests that Hamas could be contemplating the end of its armed struggle, although no further details have been provided, and this would occur after the signing of a two-phase ceasefire agreement.

Each phase would last 42 days and the second stage would conclude with a “long and sustainable period of calm,” as well as the complete lifting of the blockade of Gaza.

The first stage would include the release of Israeli female soldiers held captive in Gaza, who would be exchanged for 50 Palestinian prisoners each, including some serving life sentences.

During this period Israeli troops will remain inside Gaza but, within 11 days of the ceasefire coming into effect, Israel would begin dismantling its military installations in the central Gaza Strip and withdraw from some key areas.

After 11 days, Palestinians would be allowed to return to the northern Gaza Strip.

The Al-Jazeera media mentioned a third phase of the agreement, in which the reconstruction of Gaza would begin under the supervision of Egypt, Qatar and United Nations agencies.

The Qatari television network cited Khalil al-Hayya, a member of Hamas’s political bureau, as a source of this information.

He also detailed that in the first phase the flow of aid, fuel and materials to Gazay would resume, and in the second, according to the text of the proposal, there would be a total and permanent cessation of military activity in Gaza.

Hamas’s approval of the ceasefire proposal has not only raised hopes for peace in the Palestinian territories, but also among part of the Israeli population, especially the relatives of hostages held by Hamas.

Groups of people demonstrated on Monday in Tel Aviv to demand that Netanyahu’s government accept the proposal made by Egypt and Qatar and thereby facilitate the return of the kidnapped people.

On October 7 of last year, Hamas militants carried out a massive military incursion into Israeli territory, where they killed around 1,200 people and kidnapped 253, whom they took to Gaza as hostages.

Some of them were released and 128 still remain in Gazaaccording to Israeli data, although it is believed that at least 34 could be dead.

In response to the Hamas attack, Israel has carried out a large-scale military offensive in the Gaza Strip over the past seven months, which It has caused the death of more than 34,000 people.

Despite Hamas’ announcement, this Monday Israel carried out a military offensive in Rafah, a town it considers the last bastion of the Palestinian organization that carried out the October 7 attack.

The Israel Defense Forces indicated that the operation consists of a series of “targeted attacks” against Hamas in eastern Rafah.

For its part, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad – another organization that the US and the EU consider terrorist – announced that its militants launched rockets from Gaza towards southern Israel in response to these attacks.

Images showed how the “iron dome”, Israel’s anti-missile system, intercepted projectiles over the country’s sky this Monday.

Much of the international community has expressed its opposition to Israel’s announced military offensive in Rafah, where there are more than a million displaced from other areas of Gaza destroyed by war.

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees said the consequences would be devastating for these people.

UN Secretary General António Guterres expressed concern and called on the Israeli government and Hamas leaders to “go the extra mile” to reach an agreement.

For his part, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, described Israel’s evacuation order in Rafah as “inhumane.”

The president of the USA, Joe Biden conveyed his concern to Netanyahu this Monday about an invasion of southern Gaza in a telephone conversation, the White House announced.

“We cannot support an operation in Rafah as currently planned,” said US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller.

The chancellor of the European Union, Josep Borrell, harshly criticized Israel’s operation, which he described as “unacceptable” and assured that it will cause “more war and hunger”

The Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, Rishi Sunak, also expressed his “deep concern” about the offensive in Rafah due to the “number of civilians taking refuge there and the importance of that crossing for receiving aid.”

Among the countries in the region, Egypt asked Israel for “containment” at a decisive moment in which there could be an important advance towards peace, while Jordan and Saudi Arabia harshly condemned Israel’s attacks in Rafah in recent hours.

Analysis by Jeremy Bowen, BBC International Editor

The announcement of the ceasefire accepted by Hamas surprised most analysts and disrupted Israel’s expectations about what could happen in the coming weeks.

Israel’s assumption was that Hamas would not accept a ceasefire proposal that the Americans called “exceptionally generous.” At dawn, Israel warned Palestinians to flee the eastern side of Rafah due to an imminent military operation.

The Americans oppose any ground operations in Rafah that could put civilian lives at risk. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant explained to his American counterpart that there was no other option, as Hamas had rejected all proposals for a temporary ceasefire and the release of hostages.

Mediators from the United States, Egypt and Qatar continued to press for a ceasefire. CIA chief William Burns spent much of the day in meetings with Qatar’s prime minister in Doha, the capital that also serves as the base of Hamas’s political leadership.

In the evening, when Hamas announced that it would accept a ceasefire, Palestinian sources hinted that the organization might be ready for a long-term truce.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s first public response was to say that Hamas’s acceptance of the proposal was “far from satisfying Israel’s demands.” However, he has sent a delegation to debate it.

The prime minister finds himself in a complicated political position. His coalition government depends on the support of Jewish ultranationalists, who have demanded a full occupation of Rafah and threatened to overthrow the executive if that does not happen. A ceasefire would mean canceling the offensive in Rafah.

At the same time, relatives of the hostages and other Israelis have demonstrated, blocking the main roads to demand that Israel accept the agreement to return the hostages home.

Americans also want a deal. President Joe Biden’s support for Israel despite the high number of Palestinian civilian deaths is costing him political support in an election year.

Hamas has put the ball in Netanyahu’s court. And if Biden pressures him to agree to a ceasefire, he will have to choose between the survival of his government and the vital support the American president has provided since the October 7 attacks.

A ceasefire would also mean that Israel would not have achieved the “total victory” that Prime Minister Netanyahu promised to achieve.

What comes next are more negotiations and difficult decisions.

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