Posted on 12/22/24
| News Source: Times of Israel
As mediators in Cairo and Doha continued efforts to reach a ceasefire and hostage release deal between Israel and the Hamas terror group, international reports purported to shed some light on some of the gaps remaining between the two parties.
An Egyptian report on Sunday claimed that Israel is demanding the freeing of 11 Israeli men in the first round of hostage releases, while a report from the BBC the previous evening said that the talks are 90 percent agreed upon, although control of the Philadelphi Corridor along the Gaza-Egypt border remains a sticking point.
Israel has been largely mum on any recent developments in the negotiations being brokered by Egypt and Qatar, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying last week that “that the less we discuss this, the better.” The families of the hostages still being held captive have demanded in public statements that a deal be reached to release all of their loved ones in one stage, calling a partial release a “death sentence” for those left behind.
Unnamed sources told Egypt’s Al-Ghad outlet on Sunday that Israel has requested the inclusion of 11 men on the list of hostages to be released in the first phase of a potential hostage-ceasefire deal, with Hamas apparently demanding further compensation in return for setting them free.
According to the report, the first phase of the potential deal between Israel and Hamas will see 250 Palestinian prisoners released from Israeli prisons in exchange for the children held in Gaza, the five female soldiers, and the older and sick captives.