Israeli media reports "significant progress" in Paris talks on Gaza war
Shafaq News/ Israeli media outlets reported on Saturday, that a "great progress” resulted in the meeting in Paris between the US, Israel, Egypt and Qatar on the hostage and ceasefire deal amid the Gaza war.
A source stated to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, "the talks were very good" and "great progress" was achieved in the meeting that occurred on Friday.
Axios website revealed on a new proposal for a hostage and ceasefire deal amid the Gaza war by the mediators.
Axios stated, the proposal involves Hamas releasing around 40 hostages from Gaza, in return for a six-week ceasefire and the release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners by Israel.
Moreover, the new truce agreement, which was confirmed by Israeli sources to Axios, “would also entail swapping 40 Israeli detainees for 200 to 300 Palestinian prisoners, and would last for a month and a half.”
The US administration officials said “they hope to reach an agreement before Ramadan, which starts in about two weeks.”
If the Israeli cabinet agrees to the new framework proposed by the United States and other mediators, follow-up meetings will be held in the coming days.
However, a source close to the talks said “the next step of detailed negotiations hinges on Hamas accepting the new framework, which the Qatari and Egyptian negotiators are trying to persuade them to do.”
Axios sources said “the talks made enough progress to move on to the specifics of the agreement, such as the names and numbers of the prisoners to be freed.” A source close to the negotiations also confirmed that “they are advancing towards more details about the agreement.”
Notably, the CIA director Bill Burns, Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani and Abbas Kamel, the director of Egyptian intelligence, participated in the talks.
The Israeli delegation, which included the director of Mossad, Shin Bet, and Israel Defense Forces intelligence, returned to Israel and will brief the war cabinet later Saturday or Sunday.
