Israel and Hamas approve ‘in principle’ Gaza draft hostage and ceasefire deal brokered by US, Qatar and Egypt

Draft deal reached in latest push in Doha to mediate ceasefire before Trump’s inauguration next week

Israeli women in the southern city of Sderot look at smoke rising over the Gaza Strip on January 13. Getty Images.

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Israel and Hamas have approved in principle a draft deal brokered by the US, Egypt and Qatar to pause the Gaza war and free the hostages held by the Palestinian group in the enclave, sources told The National on Tuesday.

They said the mediators, as well as Israeli and Hamas negotiators, on Monday and again on Tuesday debated some of the more intricate details of the draft and mapped out a mechanism for its implementation. The meeting took place in the Qatari capital of Doha.

A Palestinian source close to the talks was quoted by Reuters on Tuesday as saying he expected the deal to be finalised on Tuesday if “all goes well.”

There was no official word immediately available from Hamas or Israel that they have approved the draft, whose text has been circulating since Monday. If officially confirmed, the deal would bring Gaza its first truce since November 2023 when a week-long ceasefire saw about 100 hostages released by Hamas in exchange for almost 250 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

The mediators had since been trying to negotiate a deal, with each bid floundering in the final minutes as Israel and Hamas failed to show enough flexibility. However, the election in November of republican Donald Trump and his repeated threat that there would “hell to pay” if the hostages were not released before his January 20 inauguration have re-energised the negotiations.

US President Joe Biden on Monday said a Gaza deal was “on the brink” of being finalised.

“In the war between Israel and Hamas, we're on the brink of a proposal that I laid out in detail months ago finally coming to fruition,” Mr Biden said in a farewell speech at the State Department.

Earlier on Monday, US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said a deal could be finalised this week.

Ending the 15-month-old attack on Gaza would be a milestone for a Middle East. The conflict has significantly altered the region's political and military landscape. It has led to a war in Lebanon, drawn Iran into retaliatory strikes with Israel and prompted Tehran's proxy in Yemen, the Houthis, to fire missiles on Israel and attack Red Sea shipping.

Gathered in Doha for the final push for a Gaza deal are David Barnea, director of Israel's spy service Mossad; Ronen Bar, director of Israel's Shin Bet internal security; Steve Witkoff, Mr Trump's incoming Middle East envoy; Brett McGurk, Mr Biden's outgoing Middle East envoy and Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Al Thani.

Notably absent from the US team is CIA director William Burns, who had often acted as his country's chief mediator in the past year.

Egypt is represented by top intelligence officials while Hamas has Khalil Al Hayah, the most powerful official from Hamas's leadership in exile, said the sources. Mohammed Sinwar, de facto leader of Hamas in Gaza and younger brother of the late group leader Yahya Sinwar, was constantly kept informed of the progress of the talks, they added.

The draft of the agreement, which could not be independently verified by The National, provides for a 42-day truce, a limited release of hostages in exchange for Palestinian detainees in Israel, a partial Israeli withdrawal, the return home of unarmed Palestinians displaced by the fighting and the entry of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.

The Gaza war was started by a Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, when its fighters killed about 1,200 people and kidnapped about 250. The attack drew an Israeli response that has to date killed more than 46,600 people and injured more than twice that number, local health authorities say. Most of Gaza's 2.3 million people have been displaced and large areas of built-up area reduced to rubble.

Hamas and allied militant groups are believed to be still holding about 100 hostages, of whom the Israeli military says as many as 40 have died in captivity. At least 33 hostages, including the bodies of the dead, would be released at the rate of three a week during the initial truce, with women, minors, the elderly and ailing hostages included in the first batch.

According to the draft, the release of hostages in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons will depend on the commitment of both sides to the terms of the proposed deal, including observing the truce, Israel's withdrawal and the return home of the displaced, as well as the entry of aid.

Israel will halt all aerial activity during the truce for 10 hours every day and 12 on days when the exchange of hostages for detainees is taking place. The fate of 100 Palestinian prisoners and detainees serving long jail terms who Hamas wants freed would be discussed at a later stage, the draft says.

It stipulates the release of 30 to 50 Palestinians for every hostage freed by Hamas.

The proposed deal also provides for the daily arrival of 600 lorries laden with humanitarian assistance, including 50 carrying fuel. Half of the convoy will head to the north of the Gaza Strip, by far the most devastated part of the coastal enclave. Hospitals, bakeries and medical centres would be repaired and brought back into operation.

Machinery to remove debris would enter Gaza during the 42-day truce and at least 60,000 caravans and 200,000 tents would be allowed in to house residents who have lost their homes.

Israel and Hamas will engage in indirect negotiations starting no later than the 16th day of the truce to iron out details of the second phase of the deal and the release of the remaining hostages, mostly Israeli soldiers and civilian men.