The radical Palestinian movement Hamas is ready to start discussing a new agreement on the release of hostages held in the Gaza Strip. This was reported by The
Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, citing Egyptian officials.
According to them, Hamas is ready to release some of the hostages in exchange for a significant pause in hostilities.
As the newspaper notes, this initiative "marks a significant shift in the position of Hamas." The movement has been insisting for several weeks that it will negotiate the hostages only as part of a comprehensive agreement that will lead to an end to the conflict in the enclave, the newspaper points out.
Earlier, The Wall Street Journal reported that the United States, Egypt and Qatar are pushing Israel and Hamas to a new deal to free the hostages. According to the plan, Hamas will first release all civilian hostages, and Israel will respond by releasing several hundred Palestinian prisoners, withdrawing its forces from the enclave's cities, ensuring freedom of movement in the Gaza Strip and allowing humanitarian aid supplies to double. The second part of the deal provides for the release of Israeli female soldiers by Hamas in exchange for Palestinian prisoners. The third part of the plan involves the release of the Israeli military - in exchange for this, the IDF will have to withdraw some of its forces from the enclave.
