Ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel in Gaza still weeks away, hostages await release
The technical details of a hostage deal could take several weeks, and many complex details need to be ironed out, including the highly contentious Philadelphia Corridor and releaseee lists, sources close to the negotiations said. The Jerusalem Post.
“Even if both parties agree to the agreement,” the sources said, “its implementation requires a lot of details. The most important point we want to achieve is that both parties agree to the overall agreement, then we will go into the details,” the sources said.
“If we manage to reach agreement on the main, overarching theme of the agreement, the details will be much, much simpler, but it will take time, a week or two of technical discussions,” the sources said.
How long will the deal last?
Others said the talks could drag on for three weeks. A U.S. official told reporters last week that both Israel and Hamas had agreed to the overall framework for a three-stage Gaza hostage-taking and ceasefire agreement unveiled by U.S. President Joe Biden on May 31.
What needs to be determined now is the order, the official said.
The complexity of this sequence was already evident this week, when both sides argued over the wording of talks on a permanent ceasefire that would take place during the first phase of the agreement.
Israel fears that Hamas will indefinitely delay talks on a permanent ceasefire, thereby turning the first-phase pause in the war into a permanent ceasefire. Hamas, in turn, fears that Israel will not seriously engage in these talks and may prematurely resume the war.
An example of how the deal can depend on small details is the statement of the sources who initially framed the talks at this stage: “The mediators will make the greatest effort to ensure the continuation of the mediation.”
Hamas deleted the words “make the greatest efforts to” so that the sentence now reads: “The mediators will guarantee the continuation of the mediation,” the sources said.
Israel fears that Hamas will delay the talks indefinitely and wants to ensure that mediation is guaranteed “so that no one backs out,” the sources said.
“That’s one of the points we’re trying to bridge.”
Israel wants to keep a back door open to resume the war, and Hamas has no confidence that Israel will continue mediation, the source said.
The disagreement over the wording of the phase one talks is just one of several obstacles, the sources said. There are issues related to the Philadelphia Corridor and the Netzarim Line, he said.
Then there are questions about the list of those who will be released and the timing that the sources have given.
The sources said they were convinced that despite the difficulties, the sides were “very close to reaching an agreement” and “noted that we are almost there.”
The sources pointed out that they had tried to invoke the text of last month’s UN Security Council resolution supporting the deal, which was praised by Hamas.
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