Ninety percent of the Gaza deal is done, with the sticking points being the hostage-prisoner swap and the Philadelphi Corridor, a senior Biden administration official told reporters on Wednesday, The Jerusalem Post reports.
“Basically, 90% of this deal has been agreed on,” the official said, as he drew a picture of talks that were nearing completion - but still had significant challenges - as to ones that were stalled or falling apart.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was asked whether this report was accurate during a Thursday interview with Fox News. He responded that it was "exactly inaccurate."
US official placed the number of Palestinian security prisoners and terrorists who would be freed in exchange for hostages at 800, including those serving life sentences for killing civilians.
It’s been expected that some 18-32 hostages would be freed in the first phase of the three-phase deal.
The official said that most of the talk in Doha earlier this week was on the issue of the hostage prisoner exchange.
The official also spoke about the Philadelphi Corridor explaining that an agreement can not be reached until the issue of hostage and prisoner exchange has been worked out.
Nothing in the original May 31 agreement mentions the Philadelphi corridor. The deal stipulated that the IDF withdraw from all densely populated areas.
