According to Arab media reports, Egypt has drawn up a draft to end the Gaza war in several stages. As the Saudi TV channel Aschark News reported on Sunday, the first phase would be about enforcing a ceasefire lasting at least two weeks. During this time, 40 hostages held in the Gaza Strip should also be released.
In return, Israel should release 120 Palestinian prisoners. On both sides these should include women, children under 18 and older, sick people. The report referred to “informed sources” who did not elaborate.
The second phase would be about establishing a national Palestinian dialogue under the auspices of Egypt. The aim is to “end the division” and form a technocratic government, it said. This passage refers to the rivalry between the two largest Palestinian groups, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah and the Islamist Hamas.
The third phase envisages a complete ceasefire and a comprehensive agreement on the exchange of hostages and prisoners. Ultimately, the plan reportedly calls for a complete withdrawal of the Israeli army from the Gaza Strip. At the same time, all displaced persons must be allowed to return to their places of residence.
So far there has been no official reaction from Egypt or Hamas to the report.
The leader of the Islamist Hamas, Ismail Haniya, was previously in Egypt with a delegation for talks. According to the Aschark News report, he returned to Qatar on Saturday. He is one of the most important leadership figures in Hamas. He lives in Qatar.
According to reports, the exiled Hamas political leadership is already holding talks behind the backs of the two Hamas leaders in the Gaza Strip, Jihia Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, about how the Gaza Strip and the West Bank will be governed after the end of the war.
With the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the USA, Israel and the Islamist Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in the Gaza war lasting several days at the end of November, which led to the release of hostages and the release of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli prisons.
