The most recent ceasefire collapsed after Israel restarted airstrikes last month. REUTERS
A senior Palestinian official familiar with the ongoing ceasefire negotiations has shared a new proposal to end the war in Gaza. The plan, put forward by Qatari and Egyptian mediators, includes several key components aimed at stopping the violence and securing a long-term peace.
The proposal suggests a ceasefire lasting between five and seven years. In exchange for this, Israel would release all Palestinian prisoners currently held in its jails, while Hamas would free all Israeli hostages taken during the conflict. The plan also calls for a formal end to the war and the complete withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
A senior delegation from Hamas, including the head of its political council, Mohammed Darwish, and lead negotiator Khalil al-Hayya, was set to travel to Cairo for consultations on this proposal.
This latest push for a ceasefire comes after the previous one collapsed about a month ago when Israel resumed bombing Gaza. Both sides blamed each other for the failure of the truce.
Israel has not publicly commented on the new mediation plan. However, it is known that Hamas rejected Israel’s latest proposal, which included demands for Hamas to disarm in return for a six-week ceasefire.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has made it clear that he will not agree to end the war until Hamas is destroyed and all hostages are returned. In contrast, Hamas has insisted that Israel must commit to ending the war before any hostages are released.
The Palestinian official said Hamas is open to transferring control of Gaza to another Palestinian entity. This could be the Palestinian Authority (PA), which is based in the West Bank, or a new governing body formed through national and regional agreements.
Netanyahu, however, has ruled out any role for the Palestinian Authority in Gaza’s future governance. Hamas has controlled Gaza since 2007 and remains resistant to sharing power with the PA.
While it is still too early to predict the success of this proposal, the source noted that the mediation effort seems serious. They also mentioned that Hamas has shown "unprecedented flexibility" during these negotiations, signaling a possible shift in its position.
The conflict began on October 7, 2023, when Hamas launched an attack on Israel, killing approximately 1,200 people, mostly civilians. In retaliation, Israel launched a military operation, resulting in the deaths of 51,240 Palestinians, many of them civilians, according to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry.
In a related development, the Palestinian Embassy in Cairo instructed its staff, who had been coordinating medical evacuations and humanitarian aid, to relocate to the Egyptian city of Arish, located near the Gaza border.
