By Janet Ekstract ISTANBUL- On Saturday evening, Israel’s war cabinet discussed an “outline of an agreement” as an Israeli official reported. Top security officials from an Israeli delegation returned from talks in Paris on Saturday and now the war cabinet has voted to send a delegation to Qatar for more talks about a proposed 6-week truce, the release of about 40 hostages including women, children, female soldiers, the elderly and those who are ill, according to multiple reports and sources close to the negotiations. The official who spoke to the press on the condition of anonymity said: “There’s significant progress and a solid basis for discussions.” Though there is optimism about a hostage deal on the horizon, another Israeli official told The Times of Israel, caution was needed since the deal isn’t totally firmed up yet.
Negotiations in Paris have been ongoing with officials from the U.S., Israel, Egypt and Qatar trying to hammer out a hostage deal and humanitarian pause, for weeks. There is no word yet from Hamas on the terms of the latest proposal. In a statement on Saturday, a senior Israeli official cautioned that negotiators were “still far from a deal” but reported that Hamas had “dropped some of its demands.” Meanwhile, a senior U.S. official told Axios news site that there was “some progress made in the hostage talks in Paris on Friday, but more ways to go to get a deal.” Axios said that whether the deal gets off the ground, depends on negotiators from Qatar and Egypt getting Hamas to agree to the framework presented at the talks in Paris. As far as the delegation returning to Paris, unnamed Israeli sources said the delegation will have a “limited mandate” with talks focusing on technical points of a potential deal. Israel’s Prime Minister Netanyahu said in a statement on Saturday that the war cabinet will convene next week to approve the IDF’s plans for an offensive in Hamas’s last stronghold in Gaza, Rafah. Netanyahu said it would include evacuation of civilians from Rafah but the U.S. and the international community have cautioned against such an incursion.
Netanyahu told the press: “We are working to reach another framework for the release of our hostages, as well as the completion of the elimination of the Hamas battalions in Rafah.” He added: “This is why I sent a delegation to Paris and tonight we will discuss the next steps in the negotiations.” Axios learned that the current proposal is much more detailed than the initial proposal but it still has similarities. Also, reports indicated that proposal would include the release of hundreds of Palestinian terror convicts by Israel and a “redeployment” of Israeli troops within Gaza. It would not be a complete withdrawal as Hamas initially demanded, sources said. The proposal reportedly would have Israel enable the return of Palestinian women and children to northern Gaza where hundreds of thousands evacuated during the fighting.
