Israel reportedly offered a ceasefire proposal but Hamas informed the mediators that it is not ready to discuss any humanitarian or comprehensive deal without a ceasefire.
Israeli media reported details of an offer made by the Israeli government to mediators regarding a new prisoner exchange deal. The offer was reportedly rejected by the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas, which refused to start negotiations without a ceasefire.
According to Al-Jazeera, Israeli Channel 13 reported that the Israeli proposal included the release of 30 to 40 captives currently held by Hamas in exchange for the release of prominent Palestinian detainees, a partial withdrawal from some areas in the besieged Strip, and a humanitarian truce for a period of two weeks to a month.
PALESTINE CHRONICLE CORRESPONDENT: Renewed clashes between the Palestinian Resistance and the invading Israeli forces in the vicinity of the administration site of the Al-Qassam Brigades, east of Jabaliya, in the northern Gaza Strip.
FOLLOW OUR LIVE BLOG:https://t.co/TpwRnK07HK pic.twitter.com/z1wn7eyFUs
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 21, 2023
Precondition
For its part, the Jerusalem Post newspaper reported that Israel informed Qatar that it was ready for a one-week truce, in exchange for the release of 40 captives held by Hamas.
The newspaper quoted senior Israeli officials and a foreign source as saying that Israel sent a proposal via Qatar to Hamas to reach a new agreement to release the “hostages.”
On the other hand, Al-Jazeera learned from sources close to the prisoner exchange negotiations that Hamas informed the mediators that it is not ready to discuss any humanitarian or comprehensive deal without a ceasefire.
The sources also confirmed to Al-Jazeera that the current visit of the head of the Hamas Political Bureau, Ismail Haniyeh, to Cairo, is not aimed at discussing the details of a new prisoner deal, but rather the lift of the Gaza siege and the entry of humanitarian aid.
According to the Wall Street Journal, the negotiations “were set to include, for the first time, representatives of Hamas ally Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which has also said that Israel must implement a ceasefire before negotiations could start.”
Moreover, the PIJ “also demands that Israel free all of its thousands of Palestinian prisoners in return for the over 100 hostages remaining in Gaza.”
Many Palestinians were killed in the Jabaliya refugee camp in Israeli shelling and strikes. The Israeli military however is reportedly preventing medics and civil defense workers from reaching the wounded.https://t.co/TpwRnK07HK pic.twitter.com/4pdqa1Pvn5
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 21, 2023
Meetings in Warsaw
On Monday, William Burns, the Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), traveled to the Polish capital, Warsaw, to meet with David Barnea, the Director of the Israeli spy service Mossad, and the Qatari Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani.
A US official said that the meetings are an attempt to resume negotiations about a potential prisoner exchange deal.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog confirmed on Wednesday that the Mossad chief had been sent twice to Europe to reactivate the humanitarian truce aimed at releasing more Israeli captives.
According to the Jerusalem Post, Al Thani informed Barnea that Hamas’ precondition for renewing negotiations is a complete ceasefire.
Scores of Palestinian civilians, including children and women, were killed, and others were injured, since dawn on Thursday, in the ongoing Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip, by land, sea, and air.https://t.co/ZQ45QTX6qn pic.twitter.com/GoFJtRynFc
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 21, 2023
Barnea reportedly said in response that the war will not end until Hamas lays down its weapons and hands over all those responsible and involved in the October 7 military operation.
Meanwhile, scores of Palestinian civilians, including children and women, are being killed and injured in the ongoing Israeli bombing of the Gaza Strip, by land, sea, and air.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 20,000 Palestinians have been killed, including 8,000 children and 6,200 women, and 52,600 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7. Palestinian and international estimates say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
(PC, AJA)
