Israelis make concessions in hostage talks with Hamas
Israeli negotiators have made a significant concession in ceasefire talks with Hamas, signaling they may be open to the release of prominent Palestinians jailed on terrorism charges in exchange for some Israeli hostages held are still being held in the Gaza Strip, two officials said. knowledge of the conversations.
President Biden said Monday he believed negotiators were nearing an agreement that would end Israeli military operations in Gaza within a week, although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was still talking about further military action earlier in the day.
Mr Netanyahu said the Israeli army has presented a plan to the war cabinet to evacuate civilians from “combat zones” in Gaza. He appeared to be speaking about Israel’s long-awaited invasion of Rafah, the southern city where more than half of Gaza’s population is sheltering, many in makeshift tents.
Mr Netanyahu did not reveal details of the evacuation plan, and it was not clear whether he was using the prospect of an invasion as a cudgel to influence the negotiations. On Sunday, he said an invasion could be “somewhat postponed” if Hamas agrees to release Israeli hostages.
Many countries and international aid groups have warned that an invasion of Rafah could lead to massive casualties, adding to the nearly 30,000 Gazans the territory’s health officials say have already been killed in the war.
Speaking to reporters in New York on Monday, Mr Biden sounded optimistic about a deal to pause the fighting. “We’re close,” he said. “We’re not done yet. I hope we have a ceasefire next Monday.”
As hostage talks continued, the two officials said Israeli negotiators had privately agreed to a United States proposal to release five female Israeli soldiers held in Gaza in exchange for the release of 15 Palestinians convicted of serious charges of terrorism.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the discussions, which took place last week during a meeting with officials from Egypt, Qatar and the United States in Paris.
The Netanyahu government had previously avoided such a concession, in part because the release of Palestinians linked to major acts of terror, even in exchange for Israeli hostages, could expose it to significant domestic criticism.
Asked about the negotiators’ position, Netanyahu’s office declined to comment.
The reported concession came as officials rushed to reach an agreement before the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, in about two weeks. An Israeli delegation was expected to arrive in Qatar on Monday to continue negotiations with international mediators.
The concession is part of a broader US proposal that would allow the release of 40 of about 100 hostages captured in the October 7 Hamas-led attacks and believed to be alive in Gaza.
In addition to the five female soldiers, there are 35 civilians, some of whom are sick, injured or weak. Seven of the 35 are women who Israel says should have been released during the last ceasefire and prisoner exchange in November. For the release of these seven women, Israel has proposed releasing 21 Palestinians from its prisons, the same three-to-one ratio observed during the previous exchange.
The release of male Israeli soldiers would be the subject of separate negotiations, one of the officials said.
Hamas did not respond to the offer. The group has called on Israel to withdraw from Gaza, commit to a long-term ceasefire and free Palestinians held in Israeli prisons in exchange for the remaining hostages.
But according to one of the officials, Israeli intelligence officers believe that Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, has become more receptive in recent weeks to an agreement that would allow only a temporary ceasefire, with the hope that it would become permanent.
On top of the talks, the prospect of an Israeli raid on Rafah, where more than a million people are sheltering, looms. Many fled to the city after heeding Israeli orders to evacuate other parts of Gaza, facing a lack of food, water and medicine. Many say they now have nowhere safe to go in Gaza.
Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, condemned Netanyahu’s announcement of an evacuation plan, saying it confirmed Israel’s intention “to storm the city of Rafah.” He called on the Biden administration to “stop this Israeli madness.” The authority helps govern the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
António Guterres, the UN secretary general, said that a full-scale Israeli offensive in Rafah, which serves as a key entry point for aid from Egypt, “would not only be terrifying for the more than a million Palestinian civilians sheltering there, it would also be the final nail in the coffin of our aid programs.”
Mr Netanyahu’s office said inside a statement that a new plan to deliver humanitarian aid to Gaza had been approved after reports that desperate Palestinians had ambushed aid trucks and taken food and other supplies. The government has not released the plan or provided further details.
As Israel continued its offensive in Gaza, the Israeli military said its fighter jets in Lebanon struck Hezbollah’s air defenses in the Beqaa Valley, an area about 90 kilometers from the Israeli border. The targets were deeper in Lebanon than any part of the country hit by Israel in recent years.
Israel said the attack was in response to a surface-to-air missile attack that downed an Israeli drone over southern Lebanon. Hezbollah had claimed responsibility for that attack.
At least two Hezbollah fighters were killed and at least six other people were injured in the Israeli airstrikes, according to Bachir Khodor, mayor of the nearby city of Baalbek. Video from the scene, provided by Mr Khodor, which could not be independently verified, showed a building in ruins and people on stretchers being loaded into an ambulance.
The Bekaa Valley, a fertile plain running along the Syrian border, has long been a stronghold for Hezbollah, the politically powerful Lebanese militia that has clashed with Israeli forces almost daily since October 7. The fighting has displaced more than 150,000 people. people on both sides of the Lebanese-Israeli border, leaving hundreds dead.
The Israeli army later confirmed that it had killed a Hezbollah commander in a targeted attack in southern Lebanon earlier in the day. Hezbollah announced the fighter’s death in a statement but did not provide details on his rank.
In a statement, Hezbollah said it retaliated by firing a barrage of rockets at an Israeli army headquarters on the Golan Heights, the plateau Israel seized in 1967. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the statement.
The attacks came after Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said on Sunday that the army “intended to increase firepower against Hezbollah” and that it would not pause operations along the border with Lebanon even if there was a temporary halt of the attack taking place. fighting in Gaza.
“We will increase the fire in the north separately and continue until the complete withdrawal of Hezbollah and the return of Israeli civilians to their homes,” he said.
Hassan Fadlallah, a Hezbollah lawmaker in the Lebanese parliament, said Monday that the latest round of Israeli attacks “would not go without a response.”
Reporting was contributed by Pieter Bakker, Julian E Barnes, Mike Ives, Nick Cumming-Bruce, Hwaida Saad, Euan district And Johnatan Reiss.